


Anti-Venin

by Quido



Category: Quantum Leap, White Wolf
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Virtual Season/Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-06-05 15:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6711499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quido/pseuds/Quido
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unusual Leaper arrives in the waiting room and throws the whole team for a loop. Can Sam and Al figure out what needs to be done both inside the project and outside while separated by time?  AN - This is an oldie, and a bit of a Halloween Episode. Influenced by the Virtual Quantum Leap Seasons. This work is Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lightning Strike

Lightning strike, and a blue light bathes me. What the hell? When my eyes clear, I'm standing near a hospital style bed, in a sterile smelling, hard surfaced room. The walls are bright white, the light is bluish. Everything reminds me of plastic. I feel like I'm inside a Styrofoam coffee cup, I'm dressed in a nasty white body suit and except for a steel topped table, the hospital bed, and a hard bench bolted to the floor, the room I'm in is empty. It looks like a prison cell, but the door has no openings, it doesn't even have a doorknob. The floor is cold against my bare feet. The lights are behind panels, the light seemingly coming from no direction, a quick look around shows me a small privacy alcove with a shower, toilet and sink, but no mirror. Above the sink I find a shelf with individually wrapped, plastic cup, toothbrush, toothpaste, a bar of soap, beside them are a washcloth and a stack of towels. The towels are also white, there is nothing in this room beyond utility. I rub my face with my hands, my head feels like it is stuffed with wool. I try to recall what I had been doing. Before the flash, the last thing I remember was an alley, comfortably strewn with newspapers and garbage cans, where I was planning on curling up and taking a nap. It had been warm, and the sky was clear, not a cloud to be seen, nothing to explain this sudden dislocation, no one had snuck up on me, the breeze had been right, I would have smelled them before they were close enough to be a threat.

I sat on the bench trying to get comfortable, I didn't want to make any moves to gain my freedom before I knew the score. I took a deep breath trying to focus my thoughts on figuring out what else was going on here. I saw that the table had a shiny metal top. The walls were smooth and joined the ceiling seamlessly, it was hard to tell where the transitions were, there were no real corners. I had a strong feeling that I might be underground. There were a few points on the ceiling that looked like they might hide monitoring equipment or speakers. I wondered just what kind of monitoring they were capable of. As I gave the walls a closer inspection I noticed that one section had a slightly different texture. The section was about the size of an observation window in a police station interrogation room, and I wondered who might be watching me on the other side. I came to the conclusion that this was some sort of testing center or lab, instead of a prison. I started paying close attention to how it smelled, I didn't detect any of the scents that I associated with penal institutions, I caught a slight hint of old cigar smoke, but everything else in the room was too clean. This had to be some kind of lab.

It was at about this time that the door slid open and a man entered. The man's presence proceeded him by a mile, this one was important and highly ranked in whatever this place was. He was dark haired and short, the unlit cigar in his hand told me that he was the source of the cigar smoke scent, but under that he was clean. His clothes were expensively tailored, purple silk shirt with French cuffs, silver slacks with a razor sharp pleat in the front, a silver flight jacket, purple shoes, a purple fedora with a silver band, a round pin with a blue neon star took the place of a boutonnière, and at his neck was a silver string tie. I blinked, it was one of the most unusual outfits I'd ever seen, but he carried the look well. I felt he could have blended in someplace like Los Angeles.

"Where am I little man?" I asked with a little tooth in my voice, I wanted the truth and by his attitude I knew that I would have to be firm to get it.

"Heh, I can't tell you that." he said, making a small gesture with his cigar, "However, if you can give me some information you'll be home again in no time."

I shrugged, "That's all right, I'll make do. What I really want to know is why have you abducted me? How did you manage to get me here, remove all of my possessions, and change my clothes in one flash of light?"

"How did we what?" the man looked a little astonished.

“How did you bring me here? There was no one nearby, the street was quiet. Nobody grabbed me, jumped me, or tranked me. How did I get here?” I repeated.

"Eh, right." said the man, around his cigar, "Why don't you just tell me your name, and I'll see what I can do about sending you home?"

I shrugged, "My name is Clam... Jack...,” I looked at the little man with confusion, as my own name slipped from my mental grasp, “Why am I having difficulty remembering my own name? I don't feel drugged...”

“Don't worry, your memories will come back, it's only temporary.”

“You seem quite sure of that.”

“As soon as you get home it'll come back to you. For now, focus on what you can remember. Anything you can tell me will help get you home faster. Can you tell me the date?”

“Ah, let's see, Summer Solstice is coming up, that'd make it June.”

“What year?”

“Um... 1988, I think.”

“Where's the last place you remember?”

“An alley in New York City, I was planning on taking a nap.”

“You're homeless?”

I nodded, this seemed to unsettle the little man, “Generally, if you sleep in an alley you don't have a roof over your head...” I quipped, “Can I ask you something?”

The little man nodded, “Sure,”

“What's your name? I don't think I want to call you 'little man' to get your attention.”

"Sure, my name's Al, and I'm in charge here."

"What is this place Al, some sort of lab or secret military site?"

His eyes snapped at me, something I had said startled him. He looked at me intently, like he was trying to decide how much to tell me. I decided to gamble a little, Al's body language was telling me that he was used to giving orders, and having those orders be obeyed. That screamed military to me, so I took a breath and noticed a few other things. "Don't lie to me Al, I can smell a lie just as sure as I can smell the cordite and gun oil on your hands, you must have been at target practice earlier, and the smell of military issue shoe polish from the guards standing outside the door in the hall, makes me want to gag."

Al blinked and almost dropped his cigar, what I'd said shocked him, "Jack, you're going to have to excuse me. I've got to go check something. Trust me, you're safe here, and we'll have you home soon. You just stay right here. Ok?"

"Doesn't look like I have much of a choice, do I. Can I get some other clothes? I hate white and the synthetics are beginning to make me itch.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Al left the waiting room in a hurry, something about Jack spooked him. While this wasn't the first time a new arrival had remained calm, there was just something about his attitude that made Al uncomfortable. Jack didn't seem overly concerned with the fact that they had 'abducted' him. He just wanted to know how they had done it. The gaps in his memory were annoying, and the fact that Jack was homeless, would make it difficult to get a lock on Sam. At least they had a city, and an approximate date to work from. The questions Jack had asked were out of the ordinary too, focusing right away on the idea that he was in a lab or a secret military base, and that stuff about being able to smell the gun oil and shoe polish. Al shook his head, maybe Jack was really good at reading people, had some experience with the military, or just had an active imagination that let him make the connections. To put his mind at ease, on the way to the control room Al gave orders to double the armed guard outside the waiting room.

“Good Morning Admiral,” purred Ziggy from above, “From the information that Jack gave us, I estimate that we should have a lock on Dr. Beckett in about 20 minutes.”

“Lofty, I want to have the imaging chamber online as soon as we have a lock.” Al directed.

“Certainly Admiral.”

Al turned and walked back out of the control room, if what Jack had said about what he had been doing before he arrived was true, then it would be unlikely that Sam would be in any serious trouble before Al arrived. He walked to his office to finish the mug of coffee he had just poured when Ziggy had announced that Sam had 'landed'. It was rare that Al felt like he could indulge himself by taking his time, and not start pacing in the control room. He wasn't even sure why he felt that way this time, but something told him that Sam would be fine for a while and there was no reason to get in the way of Tina, Sammy Jo, and Dom in the control room.

It was about 15 minutes later that Ziggy informed him that they had achieved a lock. Al left his office and hurried back to the control room. Dominic handed him a charged handlink and Al stepped into the imaging chamber. He found Sam at a news stand, dressed in an old worn t-shirt, torn jeans and slightly grubby tennis shoes, covered by long, threadbare jacket. The clothes were surprisingly clean for Jack's indication that he was homeless and planning to sleep in an alley.

“Hey Sam, how's it going?” Al asked brightly, glad to see that Sam wasn't in any immediate trouble.

"Al! Where have you been! Who is this guy? I leapt into an alley, behind a dumpster. Look how I'm dressed!" Sam snapped at him.

Al shrugged off Sam's attitude with a sigh. If Sam had answered him any other way it would have made a nice change, "Well, I 'll tell you what I know, but it's not much. Apparently your name is Jack, or Clam. Our visitor is having a hard time remembering things, so I don't have a last name. We do know that it's June 1988, you're in New York City, and you're homeless. Ziggy hasn't had a chance to dig up any information yet, all that we know we know from Jack.”

Sam nodded, and started walking away from the newsstand, “I figured out most of that at the newsstand. It's June 14, 1988, and the owner called me Jack when he asked if I needed anything else. He must have been by here just before I leaped in.”

Al busied himself entering in the additional information with his handlink. “Ok, Sam, it looks like we're going to have to see if we can get more information from our visitor, before we figure out why you're here. I have to tell you though, this guy you've jumped into is real strange. He's making a lot of connections and we haven't told him anything."

"What do you mean?"

"I think that he can tell he's not in New York anymore. He thinks that he's in some kind of lab or secret military base.” Al hesitated before he voiced the thing that bothered him most about Jack's intuition, “And he said that he could smell the gun residue on my hands."

"He what?"

"He said that he could smell the gunpowder residue on my hands, from my service piece. Thing is, I had been at target practice earlier today, keeping up my certifications. I would have some trace amounts on my hands, even after washing them.” Al explained as he saw the flicker of worry cross Sam's face, “Then he says he can smell the shoe polish on the guard's shoes outside the waiting room, that's how he knew that he was on some kind of secret military base, at least that's what he told me. I'm telling you this Jack guy is bizarre, something about him gives me the creeps."

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the Imaging chamber door closed behind Al, Sam took a look down the street. He had moved away from the news stand when Al had stepped in and he was now strolling down the street. If Jack was homeless then there wasn't much else he could do right now. It would take a bit of time for Ziggy to run the possible scenarios and figure out why Jack had needed Sam's help to set something right. Sam started to look around for a place where he wouldn't be seen by everyone else walking down the street, maybe something in Jack's possessions would give them more information and let Sam know more about what he needed to do.

As he wandered he caught his reflection in a store window. Jack's reflection was kind of scruffy, his hair was reddish brown, cut short, but looked like it could use a trim, his chin was covered with a couple of day's worth of stubble. His eyes were hazel, and he had a set of ragged scars, with an odd bluish tint, that started up in his hairline above his ear on the left side of his face, and vined across his cheek, just under his left eye, continued across his jaw and throat to disappear under his shirt collar pointing toward his right shoulder. The neckline of his dingy blue t-shirt was worn and had loose threads, but other than that it was fairly clean. The coat was also threadbare, and the jeans he wore had seen better days. 

Sam stepped back into an alley to get out of the way of the other pedestrians before going through Jack's pockets. There wasn't much, a stick of gum, a couple of keys on a ring, a spare shoelace, a couple of dollars and some loose change, a thin leather wallet with an ATM card and an expired driver's license that told Sam that he was Jackson Edward Beller, and he was 24. The address on the license was in Albany, so Sam doubted that Jack still kept that residence. Sam also found a pocket calculator, a handkerchief, and a couple of subway tokens. Now that he was paying attention to what he had on, Sam felt something fairly heavy resting in the small of his back. Sam put everything else back in his pockets before investigating further. Taking another look around to see if anyone was watching him, he reached up under his coat and felt the hilt of a large knife, there was a small strap keeping it in a sheath that ran up the spine of Jack's coat. Sam pushed the strap out of the way with his thumb and the knife came down into his hand. Turning away from the sidewalk, and walking deeper into the alley, Sam brought the knife out from under his coat to get a look at it. It was massive, the blade was easily 8 inches long and double edged, there were symbols etched into its surface, his hand was protected by a simple bar and the grip was wound in twisted rawhide and wire. It was almost too big for one hand, but it was too small for two.

“What does Jack need with a knife like this?” Sam asked himself aloud.

The sound of a can being kicked into the alley, made Sam turn back to face the sidewalk. He quickly covered the knife with the tail of his coat, as he saw a group of five or six tough looking young men, dressed in leather and showing gang colors, come to a stop blocking the sidewalk end of the alley. They oozed an aura of menace as they took chains and switchblades from their pockets. One of them stepped ahead of the others, “Gimme your coat, man. Didn't we tell your kind enough times that we don't want you people beggin' and picking through garbage 'round here?”

The punk advanced, his knife swinging in a low arc. Sam's martial arts training kicked in and he could see that the advance was sloppy, showing very little training. The boy's companions were encouraging him, and Sam felt a grim grin come to his face. A piece of his mind thought about how the grin would look with the scars Jack had on his face.

“Teach him a lesson, Tony.”

“Yea, we've put up with enough from these bums.”

“Make an example out of this one.”

Sam backed further into the alley, keeping silent, watching for who would make the first move. To draw them in Sam shrugged himself out of the coat, letting it fall down over the hand that still held Jack's big knife. Tony led the group deeper into the alley, his eyes bright with his high running adrenaline and bravado. Sam tuned out the others and focused on Tony. Bright beads of sweat had sprung up on Tony's face, he was working hard to work himself up to the attack he planned. Not able to watch where he put his feet, Sam stumbled on a bit of trash. Tony's knife flashed in the light, the blow landed well, its edge was sharp and it cut deep into Sam's left arm.

Red pain blossomed in Sam's arm, and a sudden heat boiled in his blood. A coppery taste flooded his mouth as he roared in pain. Sam struck out with his right fist, which was wrapped around the hilt of Jack's knife and covered by his coat. The weighted fist catching Tony on the chin and sending him flying across the alley and into the wall. Sam spun and threw a kick to stop the others from coming up behind. They jumped back, and seeing an opening, Sam charged through and out onto the sidewalk. Not stopping, Sam ran for it, crossing the street to the sounds of squealing tires and honking horns, and on down the block.

Sam didn't stop for several blocks, running until he had a stitch in his side, and his arm throbbed in pain. He had no idea where he was now, he only knew that he had gotten away from Tony's gang. Stumbling into an alley that was fairly full of crates, boxes and dumpsters, Sam climbed over a box and settled down on the ground. The cut on his arm was ugly, the blood dripped off of the side of his left hand. It looked like it should have stitches, but Sam didn't have anything to treat it with. Catching his breath he considered Jack's coat. It was long, and fairly clean, with nothing else to work with, Sam decided it would have to do until he could make it to a clinic, and have the wound properly looked after. So, using the knife, he cut a strip from the bottom edge of the coat, cut it in half made a folded pad and tied it over the wound with the rest of the strip. After his heart stopped pounding Sam returned Jack's large knife to the sheath affixed to the back of Jack's coat, bundled up the fabric and tucked it under his right arm. He stood up, carefully exiting the alley, and started to search for an ambulance, police officer or an emergency clinic.


	2. Phantom Itch

Al stepped out of the imaging chamber, and handed the handlink back to Dominic, “I'm going to go talk to our guest again. Maybe, now that he's had a little time to think he'll remember more.”

“Admiral, I've been monitoring our visitor, and he seems to be getting agitated. I would advise caution when you return to the waiting room.” Ziggy intoned from above.

“Thanks Ziggy. Has Dr. Beeks arrived yet?” asked Al. Dr. Beeks had been on vacation, and was scheduled to return today, it would be good to have her professional assistance to keep their visitor calm.

“No Admiral, her flight is scheduled to arrive in Albuquerque in three hours and fifteen minutes.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some man in a lab coat came in and asked if I wanted anything to eat. I let him know that I was kind of hungry, and a sandwich, or a burger would be nice. My skin itched and I asked again for some different clothing, and the lab tech said he would see what he could do. I also asked if I could get a magazine or newspaper, the room wasn't much to look at and I was getting bored. He told me that he didn't think he could, but he would ask. Then he left me to my contemplations. Nothing had been done to me openly, but I was sure that I was being watched at all times. I tried relaxing, but the itching was not making that easy to do. I started to pace, back and forth across the room. On one circuit I noticed my reflection in the tabletop. I gasped as what I saw brought me to a standstill, the image wasn't mine, but at the same time it was. I stepped closer to the table and examined my 'reflection'. The face I saw was that of an older man, not bad looking, clean shaven, with hazel eyes, his hair was brown with a shock of white over his left eye. The most unusual thing was that if I tipped my head and looked at the image out of the corner of my eye I could see myself, and I traced the scars that ran down the left side of my face, with my right hand. What kind of place was this? I was fairly sure that I wasn't under the influence of any drugs, but I began to wonder what had been done to me and to my possessions, some of the things I carried on my person could be dangerous in the wrong hands, or if they were abused. As I rolled this thought around in my head the lab tech returned with a couple of sandwiches on a plate and a jug of lemonade. I sat down and ate a bit, the sandwich was a simple ham and cheese and I drank some lemonade. As I finished, the door slid open and the man named Al returned.

“How are you doing Jack?”

“Not bad I guess,” I spoke warily as I idly scratched at an itch on my left shoulder, “I do have to wonder about what's going on here though.” I continued as I motioned to my reflection in the tabletop.

“Oh, so you've noticed that, let me try to explain. What you're seeing is the reflection of a friend of mine. His name is Dr. Samuel Beckett, unfortunately you've become part of a time travel experiment that went a little ca-ca. Because of this, Sam has switched places with you, everyone in New York will see Sam as you and just about everyone here will see you as Sam. The tricky bit is that until we figure out why Sam replaced you in 1988, we can't send you home.”

“And while I'm here I can't go anywhere outside of this room?”

“Right, that's why it's important for you to tell us everything you might remember. It will help us figure out what needs to be done, and get you home quickly.”

I dug at the itch that continued to plague my left shoulder, as I thought about what Al had told me. The name of Dr. Beckett was familiar to me, but I was having a hard time remembering why. I started to feel tense, as the itching grew stronger and I tried to force my mind to remember, “Dr. Beckett... I know that name... He was at MIT, right?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“The reflection is familiar, I think I may have seen him there.” I answered as I tried to puzzle out where the feeling of knowing who Dr. Beckett came from.

“Can you remember anything else?” prompted Al, “anything you can tell us will be a help...”

“Ah, I'm supposed to get together with Donovan this afternoon, and I was going to check on how the renovations at Glinda's were coming along.” I spoke slowly as I tried to think around the holes I found in my memory.

“Glinda's?”

“It's a shelter for women and children, I volunteer there on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They let me use their laundry and showers.”

“Ok, well that's a start. How about we backtrack a little, have you remembered your name?”

As I thought about Al's question, my right hand moved over to rub at the right side of my neck and my left drummed on the table. I shook my head, and noticed that I had a headache developing, a small part of me hoped it wasn't a migraine, but a larger part recognized the increasing stress and tension that heralded one. “Sorry Al, I know that people call me Jack, or Clam, but I don't know why.” I thought back to something that occurred to me earlier, “I need to know something Al, what have you done with my clothes and possessions?"

"Sam has them, he'll keep them safe."

"I should let you know Al, I don't want Sam to get into trouble, but I have a feeling that some of the stuff I had on my person might get him arrested if he ends up crossing any police officers.”

“What kind of stuff? Drugs?” Al asked concerned.

“No, not drugs. I don't touch that stuff, I've seen too many people end up dead from that garbage.” I explained, “It's something that means a lot to me, but I can't think of what it is...” I rubbed at the headache that was quickly building behind my temples.

“Don't worry Jack, if it comes to you, or you remember anything else, just call out. We'll have someone come and talk to you.” Al looked at me, “Are you feeling alright?”

“No, my skin itches fit to kill, and I think I'm coming down with a migraine.”

“Are you on any medication?”

“Not right now, my skin hasn't felt like this since my scars healed, and it's been a couple of years since I had a migraine.” I spoke quietly as Al's voice began to bother me. My left hand started to worry at the scars across my left cheek, while I pinched at the bridge of my nose with my right.

“I'll have one of the medics come in and check you over. I'll be sure that they bring something for your headache”

I nodded, Al stood and left the room. I was left to my own contemplations, my headache, and the ever increasing itch that crawled across my skin, tracing the scars that lay under the white bodysuit.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Al was concerned as he left the waiting room, “Ziggy, get Aurora in there and have her check out Jack. Somethings not right, and lower the lights in the waiting room. If Jack is coming down with a migraine the light is only going to make it worse.”

“Dr. Lofton is on her way, Admiral.” Ziggy acknowledged

Al nodded and made his way back to the control room, he had watched Jack closely during this last interview, and he had seen how the visitor had dug and fidgeted at his skin and clothes, one hand or the other always scratching. Then, as they spoke, how Jack had started looking tense around his eyes and then began to massage his forehead before he answered. Al hoped that Sam might have come up with some information that would unlock the mystery of who Jack was and what they needed to do.

“Dom, is the chamber online?” asked Al as he held his hand out for the handlink.

“One minute, Al.” answered Dominic as he handed over the link.

Tina spoke up as Al prepared to enter the imaging chamber “Al, Dr. Beckett's signal, like, fluttered for a little bit, when you were in talking to the visitor. I think he was running or something. It's all stable now, but his heart rate is a little elevated.”

“Thanks, Tina.” Al said with a smile as he stepped into the imaging chamber.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Al was startled at Sam's condition when he saw him walking down the sidewalk. Sam held his left arm tightly against his chest, and Al could see blood on his hand and fingers. A makeshift bandage was wrapped from his elbow to wrist, and his coat was bundled up under his right arm. Al saw there were also spots of blood on his pants and shirt. “Sam! What happened?”

“Some punks tried to mug me,” Sam answered through gritted teeth, “One of them had a knife. It could use some stitches. Can you help me find a clinic?”

“Sure kid, let's see what Ziggy has.” Al said as he touched the button that would bring up Ziggy's hologram, “Ziggy, where's the nearest emergency clinic?”

“The closest clinic is two blocks ahead Dr. Beckett, you should be able to see it soon.” answered Ziggy before she blinked out.

“Good, this is really starting to hurt.”

Al stayed with Sam as he walked the two blocks and entered the clinic. There was a considerable line of people waiting treatment for a variety of ills, so Sam couldn't really talk, except to answer questions of the admitting nurse. Al watched as Sam carefully took his coat, and set it possessively under his right thigh before he let them examine his wound.

“Well Jack, nice job on the bandaging, but this is going to need stitches.” commented the nurse as she looked at the gash in Sam's arm. “So, who was it this time?”

“Tony, and a few of his friends.” answered Sam, “He would have missed, except I tripped and fell into his swing.”

“Ok, let's get this cleaned up, and I'll get Dr. James to zip you up.” replied the nurse with a smile.

“Thank you.”

A second, younger woman came in with a clipboard full of forms, “Carol, can I ask Jack some questions while you're cleaning him up?”

“Sure Betty, that is if Jack doesn't mind.” the older nurse nodded to Sam.

“No, I don't mind. It will help distract me.” answered Sam as Carol patted him knowingly on his shoulder.

“Ok, first I need your name.”

“Jackson Edward Beller.” replied Sam. Al took advantage of Betty's questions to tap the information into the handlink for Ziggy.

“Age?”

“24”

“Occupation?”

Sam shrugged, not knowing what to say. Al jumped into the gap, “Right now all I have is that you volunteer on Tuesdays and Thursdays at a women's shelter called Glinda's.” Sam parroted Al's information to Betty and she nodded. The next several questions were about how Sam became injured and how he arrived at the clinic. Al excused himself when the doctor arrived to stitch up Sam's arm, to make sure that Ziggy got working on finding all the details they could find out about Jack.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

By the time Al stepped out of the imaging chamber Ziggy and Dominic had preliminary results from their search. What they were finding didn't do much to brighten Al's day. Why did it always seem that the strangest situations involved people who were similar to Sam or himself? The records that they found painted a picture of a man that was a sort of blend of both himself and Sam. Apparently, Jackson Edward Beller had been orphaned at a young age, raised in a series of foster homes, among people who didn't understand him, and was a child genius when it came to computers and mathematics. He won a full scholarship to MIT at 15, and graduated with doctoral degrees in chaos theory, artificial intelligence and computer engineering by the age of eighteen. From there he slid into a high paying job with a major computer company working on cutting edge system designs and user interfaces. About 2 years later Jack vanished, during a week long camping trip with some coworkers. That was about two years before the date Sam had given him. No other records were found.

“I'm going to check on Jack. You guys get started on trying to figure out what Sam needs to do. I'll be back in 20 minutes.” Al figured that 20 minutes would give Sam enough time to be finished at the clinic and Ziggy enough time to have some percentages done before Al went back into the imaging chamber. As Al stepped into the hallway heading for the waiting room Ziggy sounded the medical alert klaxon. Al bolted the rest of the way to the door and slammed his hand on the door release. Two orderlies from Aurora's staff were on his heels. Inside Al saw Jack tearing at the Fermi suit he was wearing and screaming at the top of his voice. “Aargh! Get It Off! Get It Off! It Burns! Oh Mother It Burns! I Can't... I Can't... NO! NO! NO!” Jack's cries of anguish continued as the zipper at the back of the suit split and Jack peeled it off in a flash and threw it across the room. Taking a shuddering breath, Jack collapsed onto his hands and knees. Al let his eyes focus on Jack, not Sam's aura, and could finally see the source of Jack's pain, the scars on his face had only been a hint of the damage Jack's chest and back had suffered. Aurora stood to one side with a shocked look on her face. She turned to Al, “What is it Al, why...?”

“Jack is covered with scars, Aurora. Both his chest and back, he looks like he may have been flayed, but they're a strange color...” Al spoke in a low voice, trying to get a handle on his own thoughts and memories.

“Al,” Jack's voice gritted out through clenched teeth, “I gotta go home, Al. Getting that suit off didn't stop the burning. Being here is killin' me. Something inside...”

“Jack, I wish I could send you home right now, but I can't. Dr. Lofton will do what she can to make you comfortable...”

Jack nodded with a whimper, clenching his eyes shut. He flinched and shuddered as Aurora placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Keep me posted Aurora. I'll see what I can do to make Jack's stay a short one.” Al finished as he turned back to the hallway, intent on returning to the Control Room to see if he could help speed things up.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam was impressed with the care he received at the clinic. Dr. James was quick and efficient, giving the cut a once over he judged that there would be no long term damage and a few minutes later it was stitched up and wrapped in gauze. Sam shrugged back into his coat and left the clinic. It wasn't long before Al turned up and started walking beside him. The sidewalks were getting a little crowded, and Sam judged that it was early afternoon as he saw people leaving several cafés and diners.

“Any news?” Sam asked as they continued down the street.

“Not much,” Al answered as he fished out his handlink, “Jack is having a bit of trouble with a migraine, and he's not remembering much. I did manage to get a little history on him, and his plans for today.”

“Ok, so tell me what you've got.”

Al filled Sam in on what history they had been able to find on Jack. “Come on Sam, I can tell you the rest on the way to Glinda's.”

“Glinda's?”

“Yea, Jack said he was planning on stopping at Glinda's to check on how the renovations were coming. Glinda's House is a women's shelter,” Al provided as he noticed Sam's questioning look, “it's not a bad place to head, and if he's known there it will be safer than wherever you ran into Tony. We're going to need a little time to for Ziggy to run through the info and come up with any ideas as to why you are here. So, you may as well keep Jack's appointments.”

“Ok, sure, but what is Jack doing at a women's shelter?”

“Jack says that he exchanges work for a chance to use their showers and laundry. He wasn't specific about what kind of work he does for them.” Al answered with a shrug.

“Alright... How do I get there?”

Al tapped a few buttons on the handlink and pulled up the directions to Glinda's House, “Oh, it's not too far, only about 10 blocks. In fact it looks like it might be close to one of my old neighborhoods. Come on Sam, I'll have you there in no time.” Al dropped the handlink into his pocket and started walking down the street, taking in the sights and sounds. Sam shook his head and followed his observer, who had started to hum “New York, New York” slightly off key, but still recognizable.

It was a couple of blocks later, when Sam heard someone shout from behind, “Clam! Hey, Clam!” the voice was accompanied by the sound of running feet, as the person approached and lowered his voice, “I thought we were going over to Glinda's together today!”

Sam spun around as a hand grabbed his shoulder, coming face to face with a teenage boy with glossy raven black hair, dark eyes and a rich complexion that told Sam of a Native American heritage. The boy was dressed in jeans, a white t-shirt with a yellow and black illustration of a group of people apparently worshiping a coffee carafe, and a brown leather bomber jacket that looked well lived in. Al stepped up and pulled out his handlink to try to get information about who this was, before Sam put his foot in his mouth.

“What? Oh, sorry, I forgot. I had a bit of trouble this morning and that put it right out of my head.” Sam vamped as Al tried to get Ziggy to cough up the info.

The kid cocked his head to one side, and a worried expression came across his features, he peered at Sam's face, “Wait up. Who are you? Why are you wearing Clam's clothes?”

“Huh?” both Sam and Al chorused together.

“Why are you wearing Clam's clothing? I know I saw him wearing those duds this morning. Then I had to go get some things for Nana, and now I find you wearing Clam's clothes? Who are you?”

“These are my clothes. I was wearing them this morning.” Sam quickly said, trying to smooth things over.

“No way man, my eyes never lie. I don't know who you are, but you're not Clam.”

“If I'm not, then why would I be wearing his clothes and walking toward someplace he planned on going to?” Sam continued, trying to get the young man to accept he was Jack Beller. Al continued to badger the handlink, muttering under his breath as it continued to only offer useless information.

“I don't know that either, yet. I do know if you're going to hurt him then you're messing with the wrong people.” the boy tipped his head to the other side and sucked in a startled breath, “Oh, wow... Now I see Clam's face over yours.” The boy grabbed the front of Sam's coat, “What have you done with Clam!”

Sam raised his hands to try to calm the youth, noticing that the confrontation was attracting the eyes of the other people on the sidewalk. “I'm not here to hurt him, you've got to believe me. Right now he's safe, but I can't tell you where he is.” Sam backed away, drawing the boy with him until they were not standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Safe? Clam's not 'safe'. The only place he could be 'safe' is here. If you really knew him then you'd know that!” the youth gave Sam a push, but didn't let go of the coat. He gave his head a shake as Al's handlink gave out a particularly harsh squeal as a result of Al's banging, “What have you done with Clam? And what is that god awful noise?”

Shocked, Al stopped fighting with the handlink and it ceased emitting its symphony of squeals, beeps, pings and moans. None of them noticed a tall, thin, man in a dark suit, step out from a nearby doorway and calmly walk up behind Sam, until he cleared his throat to catch their attention. Sam's head turned a little, trying to keep both the boy and this new distraction in his sights. The boy looked over Sam's shoulder at the sound and released Sam's coat. Sam stepped to the side to make it so he could see both people. Al moved so he could watch everyone.

“Mr. Beller,” the man's voice was quiet but clear, “Mr. Rook, my employer wishes to extend his invitation for dinner, to be held tomorrow evening at 7 pm., at his residence. He feels that it would be beneficial to all parties that you attend.”

Sam gave the man a curious look. The boy spoke up first, “Nyman, what's up? He's never been interested in me, or Clam, before.”

“Mr. Rook, all I can say is that you will have to ask him that yourself. I am only here to offer the invitation. May I inform him of your acceptance?”

“Oh Sam, I don't like this,” muttered Al, giving Nyman a sharp glare, as he continued to prod the handlink, entering what info he could about the situation.

“Neither do I,” commented the boy, before his brain caught up with his mouth and he blinked, looking approximately at where Al stood. “Nyman, did you hear someone speak, other than myself or Clam?”

Nyman shook his head, “No Don, I didn't. However, if you did, than it is even more important that both Mr. Beller and yourself accept my employer's invitation to dinner.”

Don considered it, looking closely at both Nyman and Sam before answering, “Ok, we accept. I'll make sure that 'Mr. Beller' is there tomorrow at 7.”

“Good, here is the invitation, and one of my cards. If the doorman gives you any grief, show him these and he will let you in.” Nyman finished, pulling out an envelope and a business card from his inside jacket pocket and handing them to Don. He then turned and walked down the street a little before turning back, “Don, keep an eye on him. Don't let him get in any trouble before dinner.” Nyman then turned again and walked off.

Sam had stood quietly throughout the exchange, not knowing what to do. Al's handlink chirped for attention and he glanced down at it, “Finally... Sam, the kid is Donovan Rook, and the fellow who just left is Nyman Oaks. Nyman is a professional valet who works for someone known only as Stargazer.”

Donovan's eyes raked across the space where Al's hologram stood, obviously listening and hearing what Al had to say. Then he turned back to Sam, “OK... Sam is it? Now you know my name and I know yours. So, who's the 'magic voice' feeding you info?”

Sam looked at Al, opened his mouth and then shut it again. Al shrugged to let Sam know that it was his call. There wasn't any way to deny that Donovan could apparently hear Al clearly. Sam blew out a held breath before answering Don's question, “Um, that's Al.”

Donovan smiled, “Wonderful, it's a pleasure to meet you Al. Well, are we still going to Glinda's or not? Rose would get worried if Clam didn't stop by today. She wanted him to check over some wiring, before they put up the wallboard on the fourth floor.”

“Ah Donovan, why are you suddenly so helpful?” Sam asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Donovan shrugged, “I'm curious. Something is going on here that I don't understand. You must be here for a reason, but I'm betting you may not know what that reason is yet. If you knew the reason then Al wouldn't have to feed you information. So, for now you're just doing what is expected of Clam. You're also acting like you don't want anyone to think you are someone other than Clam, or you wouldn't have made such a fuss about me seeing through your 'disguise'. Which, I admit, is a nifty trick, not many people would be able to see that you're not him. Also if you were dangerous there would be no way on the planet that Stargazer would invite you over to his place for dinner.”

“The kid's a bright one, Sam.” chuckled Al appreciatively.

Don laughed, “Nah, just a keen observer of human nature with an over active sense of curiosity, Al.” he turned to Sam, “Come on, let's get moving. Maybe we'll be lucky and catch the end of lunch.”

They walked the rest of the way to Glinda's House in silence. Sam noticed that Donovan had a habit of constantly looking around, as if he was taking note of everything that happened around him. Twice he stooped quickly to pick up a coin off the sidewalk, before Sam even noticed it was there. It wasn't long before they arrived at their destination. Glinda's House was an old six story tenement building that showed plenty of signs of ongoing renovation. A dumpster was parked on the sidewalk and a debris chute clung to the side of the building. Several windows were open and Sam could hear the sounds of power tools and women's voices. Al excused himself once they arrived, to see if he could dig up anything more on what Sam was supposed to fix here. Donovan bounced up the steps with Sam in tow. They found the front door open, and walked inside. Just inside the door an older woman sat behind a desk. She looked up as they entered and gave them both a wide smile, “Jack, Don, it's good to see you today. Rose is up working on the third floor. They're installing wallboard up there today. Do you want me to let her know you're here?” the woman asked as her hand hovered over a call button on an intercom unit.

Don answered, “No, let's surprise her.” Don took off his jacket, “You'll keep an eye on this for me, Harriet? He asked as he handed it over.

“Of course Don, when haven't I?” she turned to Sam, “They'll both be here when you're ready to leave.” she continued as she held her hand out for Sam's coat. Sam glanced at Don, who dipped his head to let Sam know that leaving Jack's coat with Harriet was expected. Sam shrugged out of the coat and passed it over to her. Harriet's eyes paused on the bloody marks that were now evident on Sam's clothes and the bandage on his arm, one of her eyebrows rose questioningly. “What happened?”

“Ah, it's nothing. I had a disagreement with a couple of street toughs this morning and one of them had a knife. It looks worse than it is.” Sam said dismissively, but he noticed that the cut was starting to ache. Donovan looked at Sam sharply, apparently not willing to let it go with such a simple explanation, but also not questioning him in front of Harriet.

“Well, those clothes are a mess. Go ahead and use the laundry, you should still have a spare outfit in your locker down there, then you can go up and see Rose,” Harriet spoke in a tone that would have made Sam's mother proud.

“Yes ma'am.” Sam answered meekly before following Donovan down the hall. They went through the kitchen and down another flight of stairs into the basement. The basement was divided into an area with storage lockers and an area with several washers and dryers. Some clotheslines were strung form the joists that made up the ceiling and a few articles of damp clothing hung form them. Considering that it was a basement, it was surprisingly dry, clean and well lit. Don walked over to the storage units. “This one's Clam's,” he indicated one that had a padlock on it, “you should have his keys. I guess you're lucky he didn't put a combination lock on here.”

Sam nodded in agreement and fished out the ring with keys out of his pocket. Opening up the storage unit, he found two pairs of jeans, several t-shirts and a heavier coat. Deciding on which pair of jeans was easy, he took out the more worn pair, leaving the newer looking pair neatly folded as he found them. The t-shirts were all about the same and Sam picked one that had a couple of paint spots, deciding that if he was going to be crawling around a construction site it wouldn't matter if this shirt got a little more worn. Don walked over to the laundry area, pulled a bucket off of a shelf and started filling it with cold water, “Throw what you're wearing over here, it should soak for a bit before we wash them.”

Sam kicked out of his shoes and stripped to his shorts and socks, tossing the soiled clothing to Don who caught the shirt and pants and put them in the bucket of cold water. Don made sure that the bucket was set in an out of the way place before turning back to Sam, “So, who'd you have the disagreement with?”

“Tony, he and a few of his friends wanted me out of their neighborhood.”

Don nodded, “I figured as much, Clam was pretty near their territory before I lost track of him this morning. Tony makes it his business to 'clean up the neighborhood', but he's usually causing more harm than good. His idea of clean is to run out the homeless and let in the pimps and dealers. I'll have to see if I can find anything out that will take him down a notch or two.”

“What are you thinking of doing?” Sam asked, concerned that Don might be trying to impress him by getting involved.

“Nothing dangerous, I leave that to Clam. I'll just keep my eyes open and ear to the ground to see if I can drum up some good leads for the local police. I'm sure you've noticed that I've got a knack for picking up stuff. Give me a day or two and I'll drop some anonymous tips to get them moving in the right direction.” Don grinned, “Come on, I'll 'introduce' you to Rose.”

Sam nodded and they climbed the stairs, going back to the front of the house where the staircase to the upper floors began. It was quite a hike up to the third floor and Sam could hear the noises of screws being driven into wallboard and the swish and scrape of spackling knives as the seams between the boards and the screw heads were taped and mudded. Six women laughed and worked in three different small rooms. Four of them were putting up the board and driving in screws with electric drills. The other two were busy taping and mudding. Sam's eyes were drawn to a shapely woman wearing jeans, a tool belt and a faded t-shirt that clashed a little with her bright red hair. She had a bandanna tied over her head to try to keep the bits of spackling compound out of her hair, which fell from the seam she was working on in the ceiling. To reach that high she stood on a pair of metal stilts that were strapped to her lower legs. Don bounded into the room, all smiles, “Hey Rose! I hear you've been looking for us.”

The woman turned, her eyes passing over Don and looking at Sam, her green eyes flashed as a million watt smile crossed her face. Sam rocked back on his heels as he felt the impact of the love behind the look. “Jack! I was hoping to see you today. Do you think you could give the wiring up on four a once over? The inspectors were here earlier, but I would feel better if you would take a look at it too.” Her eyes took him all in and her smile faded into concern as she registered on the bandages on Sam's arm, “What happened?”

“Ah, just a little disagreement, it will be better in a couple of days,” Sam tried to sound unconcerned.

“Jack, you know how it bothers me to have you acting hero.” Rose tutted, her obvious disappointment making Sam squirm. Seeing his discomfort she sighed, “Just tell me that you've had it looked after by a professional.”

“Yes, Dr. James took care of it at the clinic.” Sam reassured her.

“Good, well if you're feeling up to it I'd appreciate your opinion on the wiring. I want to get a couple more rooms taped before dinner. Then maybe later...” Rose trailed off with a suggestive smile on her lips as she leaned down from her lofty position and kissed Sam on the forehead. Sam blushed furiously, first from the kiss and then from seeing Donovan try to stifle his laughter. “Come on Clam, daylight's burning.” Don called as he made his way back to the staircase and on up to the fourth floor. Rose gave him a wave with her spackling knife as he left to follow Don.  
The walls on the fourth floor were framed in, but otherwise unfinished. The stairs continued up to the fifth and sixth floors. Don led the way to the back of the building where they found a breaker box and the main junctions of the wiring, next to a brick walled shaft, with a locked steel door. “It's an old elevator shaft. Rose hopes to get it working again someday, but right now the other renovations take precedence,” explained Don, when Sam gave him a questioning look. Going back to the breaker box they started in on the examination of the wiring. At first it looked complicated, but it didn't take long to understand why. When finished this floor would have a hallway down the middle with single rooms down each side, a fairly large bathroom with plumbing for a tub, shower, two toilets and three sinks was roughed in on the corner opposite the staircase. Each room was on a separate circuit and Sam supposed that it made good sense, with this set up if the circuit breaker was tripped in one room it wouldn't shut down the entire floor. Sam was glad to see that the outlets in the bathroom were ground fault interrupt protected. With his eyes following the wires up to the ceiling Sam wondered what was on the floor above. “Are all the floors like this?” he asked Don.

“Pretty much, there are a couple of larger apartments on the second and planned for the fifth and sixth floors. When everything is finished Glinda's will have a clinic, offices, dining area and a kitchen on the first floor, recreation area, meeting rooms and two apartments on the second, and one and two room apartments on the third through sixth floors.”

“That's quite a project, who's behind it?”

“Most of it came from Rose. She wanted to take care of a need she saw when she moved to the city. When she's not here working on the actual construction she's drumming up support and funding. This is the third location for Glinda's, and the largest yet, but none of it would have gotten off the ground without Rose. Her family has a fair amount of influence and prestige, so she has an 'in' with the right kind of crowd to gain support for the shelter. During the holidays Rose can usually be found making the party circuit to keep her project in the eyes of potential donors. During the summer she's here, or at one of the other two houses, putting in hours with the rest of her people.” Explained Don as Sam's admiration for Rose grew.

Between the two of them it didn't take long to go over the wiring and see that everything had been installed in a very professional manner. Sam and Don also walked up and checked on the work being done on the fifth and sixth floors. They noticed that the framing on the fifth floor was almost finished, and estimated that the wiring would begin in a couple of days. The sixth floor was totally open, demolition had been done and the floor was covered with framing marks for the planned walls and plumbing fixtures. Don estimated that they would start framing soon, probably the end of next week. Finishing their examinations and explorations, Sam and Don made their way back down to the third floor to find Rose and her crew just finishing off for the afternoon. Rose sat on a stepladder to take off her stilts, rolling her ankles and flexing her feet to loosen them up after being strapped all day to the stilts.

“Ah, that's much better. Those things are useful, but after a while they really get heavy.”

“I'm sure,” agreed Sam as they entered the room. Rose flashed him a sunny smile as she stepped down from the ladder, “So how did it look up there?” she asked.

“Good, I didn't see any problems. It should be fine to put up the wallboard.”

Rose nodded, “I'll ask Janice and Raffaella if they can start hauling supplies up there tomorrow. They should be able to convince their boys to lend a hand.”

Sam's stomach chose that moment to let out a loud growl, reminding him that he hadn't had anything to eat today. Rose grinned and hid her chuckle behind a spackle spotted hand. Don gave Sam a startled look before joining Rose in her grin. Sam blushed scarlet as his own expression joined theirs in sheepish amusement.

Rose continued to look at him with laughing eyes, “Well, if you two would lend a hand in the kitchen, I'm sure we can spare you a plate.”

“I'll be happy to,” agreed Sam as his stomach rumbled again.

Don shook his head, “Thanks Rose, but I'm going to head back home to have dinner at Nana's. Clam, don't forget your laundry in the basement. I'll see you tomorrow.”


	4. Chapter 4

Dr. Aurora Lofton was at a loss, other than the Admiral's assurance that Jack bore scars on his face, chest and back, she couldn't see through the aura of Sam Beckett. What she could see was the irritation that Jack's incessant scratching had caused, and from his expression there was no denying that Jack was in a lot of pain. 'At least he's rational and not combative,' she thought as she tried to comfort the soul before her, 'well at least not combative toward us, just the Fermi suit.' her thoughts continued and caused her to smile a little. With the help of the orderlies they managed to get Jack to sit on the edge of the bed, and dressed in a loose cotton hospital gown. His hands gripped the edge of the mattress in a death grip as he struggled to keep from tearing at his skin. His eyes were held tightly shut and Aurora could see the tense clenching of his jaw.

“I'm going to have to take some blood samples Jack. We've got to try to figure out why you're in such distress. You told Al that your skin hasn't itched like this since the scars healed. Can you remember what the doctors used to treat them?”

Jack took several deep breaths through his nose, apparently collecting himself before trying to speak, “Best stuff was a mix of aloe vera and calendula with a little echinacea,” Jack hissed through the pain, his eyes still closed and his arms trembling from the tight grip on the mattress.

“That's unusual.” commented Aurora, there was nothing in that list that had strong anti-inflammatory or anti-itch properties, “Did they try anything else?” Mentally Aurora was taking an inventory of what materials they had in stock that she would have used if she had been the attending physician.

Jack nodded slowly, “Lots, took them a week... Had to sedate me between trials... Needed me awake when they tested.”

“Ok, I'll try to come up with some of that for you. Can you remember the hospital, or the name of the doctor that treated you?”

“Dr. James knows, runs a clinic near Glinda's.”

“Good, I think we'll be able to make you comfortable soon. Let me get those blood samples, and I'll be back as soon as I can.” Dr. Lofton kept her voice calm as she gathered the supplies she would need to take the samples, “Jack you're going to have to try to relax a little for me to get this sample otherwise it's really going to hurt.”

A very tight smile crossed Jack's lips, “I am trying, if I relax I'm going to tear myself to shreds... Might be easier to knock me out now... give you time.”

“If you think that's for the best.”

Jack nodded, as Aurora reached for the syringe filled with tranquilizer. She placed a steadying hand on his shoulder and gave him the injection. It was only a couple of minutes before he slumped, falling unconscious. Dr. Lofton watched as the lines of tension smoothed from his face, as the orderlies arranged him in the hospital bed. She quickly drew several vials of blood for testing and directed her voice to the ceiling.

“Ziggy, we need to find Jack's medical records. Look under a Dr. James, he runs a clinic.”

“Of course Dr. Lofton, the records will be at your terminal shortly. I do see a notation to Jack's record that he should be placed under restraint if he is sedated. Apparently it is necessary to keep him from harming himself while he sleeps.”

Aurora looked at the orderlies and gave them a nod before she left the waiting room to begin her tests to discover what was wrong with Jack.

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Al had retired to his office to run scenarios through Ziggy. After working on it for several hours, during which Beth had come by and insisted on Al taking a break and eating something, they were finally making some headway on Sam's mission. The keys had been the invitation to dinner at Stargazer's residence, and Glinda's House, once they had discovered Jack's connection to those places Ziggy was able to come up with several possibilities. The first was that he had to make a good impression on this Stargazer fellow and encourage him to support Glinda's House. The second was to resolve a conflict at Glinda's that could endanger the continued success of the project. The third was to rescue a woman named Rose Cassidy. By themselves the percentages for any one of those actions were not enough to stand out as being what Sam was there to fix. Al tried stacking the scenarios and saw that the probabilities improved dramatically, but were still only in the high 30s. Looking at his watch, he noticed that it was now early evening. Al left his office, stopped by his quarters to freshen up, and made his way to the imaging chamber to check on Sam.

Al had to smile as the hologram showing Sam's surroundings came into being around him. It was a professional grade kitchen with a small table set for two in one corner. At the table Sam and a very attractive redhead were watching each other over the remains of what looked like a dinner of Chinese stir fry and rice. Al's eyebrows rose knowingly as he watched the woman place her hand on Sam's. Sam couldn't take his eyes off of her face, although he did begin to blush. Al cleared his throat to catch Sam's attention. He had to repeat it several times before Sam did anything.

“Ah Rose, I really should finish up that laundry. I'll be right back.” Sam apologized as he got up from the table.

“Ok, I'll start clearing this, and you can dry the dishes when you come back up.” Rose answered with a smile, as she also stood and started to gather up the plates.

“Sure,” Sam replied as he headed to the basement stairs. Al met him at the bottom and followed him over to the laundry area.

“Sorry about the delay Sam, but we've finally figured out a few reasons for why you are here.” Al filled Sam in as he folded his laundry and put it back into his storage locker on the other side of the basement, “Unfortunately no single one has a high percentage of being 'it'.”

“Looks like we'll have to work on all three, until we figure out if it's something different or change history.”

Al's handlink chirped, looking down Al read off what it said on the display, “Sam, it seems that you've already changed history. Apparently, in the original history, Jack never got an invite for dinner at Stargazer's. Ziggy, why didn't you have this earlier?”

Ziggy's hologram materialized, “I'm sorry Admiral, it wasn't that the invitation didn't exist before Dr. Beckett leaped in, it did. Mr. Oaks noted taking charge of it on May 10th in his appointment book. Hm, Mr. Oaks only recently completed entering this information into a form that I could access, I'll have to consider this.” Ziggy paused and Al gave her a glare, trying to encourage her to continue with her explanation. Ziggy's image blinked a few times before speaking, “Interesting... The invitation was never delivered to Jack before Dr. Beckett leaped in. I can only assume that Mr. Oaks was given instructions to observe Jack Beller and wait for an incident similar to what occurred this afternoon, before offering the invitation.”

Ziggy vanished after answering Al. Sam stood there thinking over what both Al and Ziggy had told him. There were too many pieces missing from the puzzle for him to have any strong feelings about what course to take. His thoughts turned to Jack Beller, what was it about Jack that could have drawn Sam to leap in? His hand rose up and traced the scars that crossed Jack's face, the answer had something to do with Jack's scars, “Al, I think that it has something to do with Jack's... I want to say, health? Something both physical and mental I think.”

“Sound's like you're grasping at straws, Sam.”

“I know, but I've come to trust my feelings. They've been right more often than not.” Sam said with a shrug, “Try to figure out how he got scarred, and what kind of effect it has on him. There's something there, but I don't know what.”

“Sure Sam, are you going to be alright here?”

“I think so, Rose offered me a place to sleep for tonight, Donovan is supposed to come by tomorrow and he promised Nyman to get me to Stargazer's by 7pm. Unless Ziggy comes up with something I need to do, I should be alright.”

Al tapped the keys to open the door, stepped into the frame and gave Sam a wink, “Now Sam, don't do anything I wouldn't do.” as the door closed Al could see the blush and glare his comments earned him. Al turned and walked down the ramp with a spring in his step, it was such fun to tease Sam. Al handed Dominic his handlink for charging, told Donna and Tina about Sam's hunch, encouraged them to start digging for Jack's medical history and adding those variables to Ziggy's scenarios, glanced at his watch and left the Control Room. Al's next stop was 'observation' which was attached to the waiting room. Looking at the logs and the monitors, Al was slightly surprised to find that Jack was currently sedated in an effort to ease his discomfort. Passing a weary hand across his face, Al realized that he should take advantage of this slow time to catch some sleep. Because, if there was only one thing he had learned as his years of being Sam's observer, it was that if he didn't sleep when the opportunity presented itself he wouldn't be able to until Sam leaped out. Coming to this decision, Al put the log back down on the desk, made a run to the cafeteria for a bowl of soup and a sandwich, and retired to his quarters. Once he was 'home' he found a note from Beth explaining that Aurora had asked for her help with Jack's blood work and that she would be in later. Al took his time getting ready for bed, hoping to be up when Beth arrived, but as he caught himself in a face splitting yawn for the tenth time he realized that it would be more fun to wake up to her touch as she joined him in bed. Just before he turned out the light he set an alarm to wake him in 8 hours. This would give him a few hours to work on the never ending administrative details of the project before returning to Sam.

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When Sam came up from the basement he found Rose finishing up with the dishes, “Say Jack, do you think you could stick around here tomorrow to help haul the construction supplies upstairs?”

“Sure, I have to meet Donovan in the afternoon, but I'm free before that.”

“Thanks, an extra hand will make it easier. Ugh, after spending all day today on stilts I'm not looking forward to climbing up and down tomorrow, but if we want to stay on schedule we've got to get the lumber and wallboard up to the other floors.”

“What about the elevator?” Sam asked innocently.

“No way, it's not safe. Most of the motor is missing and the cables and cage need replacing before it would work.” Rose gave him a curious look, “Did you forget? You're the one who told me what needed to be done to get it working again.”

“Eh, it must have slipped my mind.” Sam covered, as he thought there had to be some easier way of getting supplies to the upper floors.

“What are you thinking of?” inquired Rose.

“This used to be a tenement building right?”

“Yes, what's that got to do with getting things upstairs?”

“I just can't see moving furniture and stuff up those stairs.” Sam's thoughts quickened, “I want to check something.” he said as he walked out of the kitchen and went to the stairs. Rose followed. They climbed to the third floor and Sam went to the window next to the stairwell that faced the sidewalk. “Help me open this window.” With Rose's assistance he opened the window, it swung out, opening on hinges. A brace at the bottom kept it from opening fully, but Sam saw that the brace could be disconnected. “Do you have a screwdriver?” Rose turned and walked over to a toolbox that sat in the hall, returning quickly with a screwdriver. Sam took the tool and popped the release on the brace, folding the window open all the way so that it rested against the wall of the building. Leaning out he saw that there was a place to latch the window so it wouldn't swing shut unexpectedly. Pulling the window back shut he closed it and started climbing the stairs to the upper floors. It only took a brief glance to tell him that the windows on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors were the same as the one he had opened on the third. Rose finally caught up to him on the sixth floor as he was looking for the roof access.

“Jack, are you going to tell me what's up?” Rose gasped as she caught her breath while holding on to Sam's good arm.

“I will, once I check out something on the roof.” Sam flashed her one of his brightest smiles as he spotted the ladder which led to the roof. He climbed the ladder and opened the trap door at the top, squeaky hinges protested, but Sam was able to open it. Scrambling out he surveyed the condition of the roof before helping Rose out of the opening. It was strong and looked to Sam like it had recently been redone. Looking around he spied the item he expected to find. At the front of the building there was a small boom crane. Sam walked over and started to examine it. The crane was in good repair but it was missing the block and tackle they would need to hoist the loads. Sam paid close attention to how the assembly was attached to the roof and tested it by wrapping his arms around the end of the boom and lifting his feet off of the roof. The crane didn't budge or make any disturbing noises. He motioned Rose to join him, “I want to see if it can hold both our weights,” he explained as she gave him a puzzled look. “If it checks out then we can use this to lift the materials up to the floors. It will be a lot easier than carrying all of it up the stairs. We can pick up a block and tackle and rope in the morning.”

“Ok Jack, this will let us lift the loads, but how do we get the supplies inside?”

“Through the windows. The ones next to the stairwell on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors are the same as the one I opened on the third. We'll just open them up and pull the loads in. It will be like what they used to do to move furniture into the upper tenements.”

Rose thought about it, the plan certainly would make the work easier, and she trusted Jack's guidance. She nodded, “So what do we need to make this work?”

After returning to the first floor Sam drew up a list of what they would need to use the crane tomorrow. Rose looked it over and realized that she could get most of the items on the list at the same place. They then secured the building, set the alarm and took the subway to Rose's apartment. Once they got there, Rose made a few phone calls to gather a work crew for the morning, and arranged to have the supplies they had stored at a warehouse delivered to the site.

“Well that should get everyone and everything there at about the same time. We'll have to make a stop to pick up what we need for the crane, but we can do that in the morning. You want to watch a movie?” Rose asked as she got off of the phone.

“Sure.”

“Go ahead and pick something out, the videos are over there, on the shelves near the television. I'll pop some popcorn, you want a beer?”

“Sound's great.” Sam answered as he moved over to a bookcase filled with videotapes. Rose's taste was fairly eclectic and Sam saw several titles he wouldn't mind watching. Choosing a comedy and a light drama he turned on the television and set up the tape player, fast forwarding through the inevitable promos to the beginning of the film. Rose returned from the kitchen with a large bowl of microwaved popcorn to share and two bottles of light beer. They settled into the couch to enjoy the show.

“I'm glad you agreed to stay over, Jack.” Rose said during a slow part of the film.

“Oh, why?”

“I get worried about you sometimes. My mind keeps going over what might happen to you when you get in trouble with punks like Tony. You keep telling me that I shouldn't worry, that you know what you're doing, that living like you do is your choice...”

“But you can't help caring, right?”

“Right, it's the same reason I started the first Glinda's House. I got tired of seeing the stories on the news about people without hope, without support, without anyone to care about them. I got tired of walking past the homeless on the street and trying not to notice them. So, I got mad, and made a total pest out of myself to see that something got done for those people who thought that they couldn't do anything for themselves.”

Sam could hear the devotion and passion in Rose's voice and it made him smile. He knew that he would do anything in his power to make sure that Ziggy's prediction of her kidnapping didn't come true. They spent the rest of the movies in companionable comfort, laughing and enjoying the situations on the screen. Once they were finished, Rose asked if Sam needed anything for his arm, and got him a light blanket and pillow. Sam settled in on the couch, while Rose retired to her room. Turning the lights out, Sam pulled the blanket around his shoulders and fell asleep quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

Al's eyes snapped open at the sound of his alarm clock, it couldn't be 8 hours since he had gone to bed. Turning a slightly bleary eye to the display he blinked in surprise, it was 8 hours later. A haphazard slap silenced the alarm, as Al's other hand reached for Beth. Realizing that she wasn't there, Al raised his head to look at the other half of the bed. Beth's side hadn't been slept in. That got him moving, Al was halfway out the door, pulling on his robe before he remembered the note from the night before. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he called out, “Ziggy, what's the location of Dr. Calavicci?”

“Beth is currently resting in her office, Admiral.” Ziggy replied smugly, “Would you like me to contact her?”

“Ah, no thank you, Ziggy. Let her rest, I'll go see her in a little bit.” Al replied as he turned back to his quarters to get properly ready for the day. A feeling of relief washed over him as he realized that there was no way that where Sam was right now could affect his relationship to Beth. 'At least that's the case this time,' the cruel little voice in his head reminded him before he banished it back to the place he locked that negative little bastard away. He stomped his way across his quarters to the bathroom. The hot shower did him a world of good and he took his time selecting what he would wear for the morning. When he left his rooms he was dressed in brown slacks and matching neo-zoot suit coat, with a pumpkin orange shirt, accented by a gold tie, gold pocket handkerchief and gold shoes. He carried two big mugs of coffee and a covered plate on a tray. It didn't take long for him to cover the distance between the apartment and Beth's office. Al entered quietly, setting the tray on her desk and moving over to where she slept on the couch that ran along the wall.

“Morning Beth, would you like some breakfast?” he murmured in her ear. She moved to brush him off, but he could see the smile on her lips. “I brought eggs and toast...”

“Coffee?” Beth asked through a yawn.

“Absolutely, and I made it myself, so it's not that dishwater from the cafeteria.”

“Mmm, thanks sailor.” Beth replied before reaching up and drawing Al down into a kiss. They lingered a bit, until Al pulled away and lovingly helped Beth sit up.

“Missed you last night,” Al commented as Beth straightened her clothes and reached for the mug of coffee.

“Oh, I'm sorry Al. The blood work from our visitor came back with some very strange results. We got really involved with trying to figure out just what's going on with it. Aurora just left a couple of hours ago. I just sat down to take a bit of a break before I went to the apartment. Guess I fell asleep.”

“Now isn't this a switch, usually you're the one after me for working the night away. Was it worth it?”

“Well, we're making progress, but there are still tests to run before we really know what's going on. I figure I'll know better around noon.” Beth informed him around bites of eggs and toast.

“I love you, Beth. I'll be in my office for the next few hours, then I'm going to check on Sam.” Al looked at his watch, “Nothing is supposed to happen until Sam gets to the dinner he's been invited to at 7 tonight, so would you like to join me for lunch?”

“When?”

“Well, for this leap, Sam's time and our time are the same, except he's in 1988, so that makes it a little less crazy. Let's say lunch at noon, then you can let me know what you've discovered about the blood work results.”

Beth nodded her agreement. She gave Al another kiss as he gathered up the now empty dishes and tray and his mug of coffee. He smiled and winked at her as he walked back out the door.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took a couple of hours for Al to go through the paperwork in his office in-box. He shook his head, the in-box was full, and this was the stuff that had made it past his administrative assistant. A couple of pieces would have to be dealt with after Sam leaped out, but the majority could be taken care of now. It made him wonder about the push a couple of years ago to move to a 'paperless' office environment, 'Well, it might work for some businesses, but the government sure isn't one of them.' he concluded with a smile. Once he completed the paperwork Al decided to take a break and walked to the Control Room.

“Lofty, is the chamber on-line?”

“One minute, Al.” Dominic answered as he handed over a charged handlink.

Once he got the all clear, Al punched in the code that opened the door and entered. He found Sam at Glinda's House, working alongside a crew of ten women and six teenage boys. They were hauling wallboard, lumber and other supplies up to the fourth, fifth and sixth floors using a block and tackle which swung out over the sidewalk from a crane arm on the roof. Al saw Sam reaching out of the sixth floor window with a hook to direct a load of wood into the building.

“Sam! What are you doing?” Al hollered, before re-centering himself and blinking in on the sixth floor.

Sam didn't answer until he had the load all the way inside and was untying the knots that kept the wood bundled. “What does it look like I'm doing? This is the best way to get this stuff up here. Rose was going to have everyone schlep it up the stairs until I convinced her that the roof crane was in fine condition and it would be easy to get the block and tackle.” Sam looped the rope that had bound the lumber together attached it to the hook on the pulley line and dropped it back out the window with a wave at the crew that stood on the sidewalk. Al peered out the window as he saw the rope return to the ground and the team down there hook up another load. This load was wallboard and the pulley crew stopped the load at the fourth floor. Two women reached out and hooked the load to bring it inside. As Al watched the rope return again to the ground Sam shuffled the load of lumber he had received off to the side where it would be handy but not in the way. Al looked back at Sam and saw that he had a little mysterious smile on his face.

“So... how was last night?” Al asked, knowing that's what Sam expected him to ask, “Did Rose show you a good time?”

“Alll...” Sam reprimanded the hologram.

“Aw, too bad Sammy. I've always had a soft spot for redheads, if it weren't for Beth...”

“Yea, Yea, I know.” Sam caught Al's continued observing look, “Since I know you're curious,” Sam paused to draw out the moment, until Al encouraged him to continue with a wave of his cigar, “We spent last evening watching a couple of movies she had on video, sharing a bowl of microwave popcorn, drinking a light beer, and I slept on the couch.”

Feigning shock, Al teased, “Sam, I never knew you were such a romantic.”

“What? I thought it was a perfect way to end the day.” Sam continued with a meaningful look at his bandaged arm.

“Is that still bothering you?”

“A little, I took a look at it this morning, and it isn't infected, but it aches and itches a little more than I'd expect.” Sam admitted.

“Well, if it gets worse go back to the clinic and see Dr. James. He's the doctor who helped Jack when he got those other scars,” Al indicated the parallel gashes that ran across Jack's face, “Jack indicated that he had some trouble when the wounds were healing.”

“What kind of trouble?”

Al referenced his handlink, “Strong sensations of itching and burning while they healed. Apparently Dr. James gave Jack an ointment that took care of the irritation.”  
“I'll keep that in mind.” 

A shrill whistle sounded from outside. Sam looked back out the window and waved as the next load of lumber for his floor was hooked up and began it's assent. Al took a quick look around before deciding that there wasn't much he could help with at the moment.

“Look Sam,” he began as Sam settled in the new load of wood, “you seem to have everything under control here. From what Ziggy says things don't get interesting until this evening. I'm going back to make sure we're on the right track. I'll be back before you head over to Stargazer's.”

“Sure Al, I'll see you later. By the way, Happy Birthday” Sam finished with a grin.

“Thanks kid.” Al replied as he stepped out through the door.

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Al had returned to his office to work on more project paperwork, after leaving the Imaging Chamber and checking the status of the Control and Waiting rooms. Lunch time came and he collected Beth from the infirmary. They ate a quiet lunch in the cafeteria, as Beth had fewer results than she'd hoped for in determining what was wrong with Jack. Dr. Lofton had ordered another battery of tests to be run, including gas spectrometry, serum and vapor analysis, and a bunch of chemical tests. Beth explained that these were not the kind of tests normally run on blood samples, but they were running out of things to try. 

“It's starting to look like whatever is affecting Jack is unique. A lot of the readings that we're getting indicate that Jack shouldn't be doing as well as he is. Anyone else with these readings would be dead.” Beth sighed as she finished her salad.

“Dead?” Al asked stunned.

“Some of the compounds we've managed to detect are highly toxic, minute traces can cause serious nerve damage, or death. I don't understand how he's managed to survive.” Beth explained, “Well I've got to get back, Aurora will need my help.”

Beth got up and cleared her place, exiting the cafeteria. Al sat there for a while puzzling over what she had told him. This leap was going downhill fast and it was gathering speed. He wasn't expected to return the Imaging Chamber for another 6 hours, so he returned to his office, to work on digging up more information on Jack's history and whatever else he could find to help Ziggy with her predictions. Once he closed the door Al set up the coffee maker on his filing cabinet to brew a fresh pot and settled into the worn leather chair at his desk. “Ziggy, can I see the current leap scenarios?” 

“Of course, Admiral. They should be on your screen now.”

Al noticed that there hadn't been any change from yesterday. He tinkered a bit with the data, adding and replacing variables to see if they made any difference. He tried stacking the three most likely possibilities into several different orders, but only the original combination came anywhere close to being solvable. Then he thought about the conversation he had with Sam last night. “Ziggy do these projections take into account Jack's current medical condition?” he asked as he poured fresh coffee into his mug and added a package of sweet n low.

“No Admiral, I shall take that into account... Interesting, this changes things significantly. While both Stargazer and Dr. Beckett's interactions with people at Glinda's remain important, it appears that finding a cure for what is ailing Jack will be necessary for Dr. Beckett to leap.”

“Ziggy, why would your predictions change so much when taking Jack's condition into account?” Al asked.

“I would suggest speaking to Dr. Lofton, Admiral. She is currently working with both Dr. Beeks and your wife, on what may have caused Mr. Beller to fall into such distress on his arrival.” Ziggy's voice replied from the speakers in the ceiling.

“I'll do that,” Al replied as he stood up from his desk and picked up his mug. Leaving his office he thought about the condition he had found Jack in as he left the Imaging Chamber this last time. Aurora had him under sedation and restraint. She had also posted one of her nurses in the waiting room to keep him under close observation. Apparently it was taking a considerable amount of sedative to keep Jack asleep and still, and without the constant monitoring that the nurse and Ziggy could provide they were running a risk of accidental overdose. Al rubbed his hand over his cheek as he made his way to the medical corridor. Stepping in, he could hear tense voices coming from the lab area.

“No, I don't like it either. However, until we can determine what's causing it I can't risk having him wake up.” Aurora spat, her accent thick from stress.

“Aurora, if we don't stop soon he may not wake up!” Verbeena countered, “you've never been someone to advocate sedation like this. What's going on?”

“I'd like to know that too.” Al added as he stepped into the lab. Aurora looked terrible, her eyes were red and her hair was coming undone from the braid she kept it in. Beth was at a station on the other side of the lab, she looked up as she heard Al's voice.

“Al, come here. I want to show you something.”

Beth indicated the monitor that she had been looking at, the image on the screen looked like the pattern of one of his louder shirts. A teal blue with a random pattern of red shapes and occasional gray blotches. “So, what am I looking at?”

“Jack's blood.”

Al paled, and he swallowed the lump that rose in his throat, “Why...” Al swallowed again, “Why is it blue?”

“We don't know. Something is contaminating his plasma. The tests we've run indicate that it is some kind of organic poison or venom, but it has qualities similar to arsenic as well. Keeping him sedated this heavily is slowing his heartbeat and respiration to give us time to come up with a solution, but it does carry risk. We may be able to slow down the progression of the damage from the poison by taking plasma from him and pumping him full of clean fluids, running him through a session of dialysis, or we could try to force his body into a state of near hibernation to slow his heart and breathing even more. Al, we're getting out of our depth with this, we've already tried several treatments and Jack isn't showing any improvement. Unless we can crack what the contaminant is, where it's coming from and figure out what we need to do to clear it from his system, Jack will die.” Beth finished sadly.

“How much time?”

“From the readings we've been taking, if we can maintain Jack as he is right now... I'd give him 24 hours before he suffered from permanent nerve damage from the poison. I already told you that if it was anyone other than Jack, they would be dead. However, the amount of sedatives we're pumping into him could start causing complications at anytime. It isn't looking good Al.”

“Well keep working on it. I'll go tell Sam, he needs to know about what's going on. I know you will all do your best for Jack. I hope GFTW knows what it's doing.” Al said with a sigh before giving Beth a kiss on the cheek and leaving the women to their task.


	6. Chapter 6

By the time lunch rolled around Sam was hot, sweaty, bone tired and his arm itched and burned in turns. He tried to hide his discomfort from Rose, but she knew Jack too well.

“Your arm is bothering you, right?” Rose said with a worried look. Sam had flinched as he was passing a bag of chips to Raffaella's son who sat next to him at the table, and a twinge of sharp pain arced across his skin.

“A little,” Sam admitted with a shrug, “I probably over did it, hauling that lumber in through the window.”

“Jack! you should have asked for help.” Raffaella scolded, “Juan or Miguel could have come up and given you a hand.” 

“I just didn't want to...” Sam started.

“Be a bother!” the rest of the table chorused. Apparently it was one of Jack's stock phrases. Everyone shared a chuckle, with Sam blushing to a deep red.

“Ok, what's done is done. Jack I don't want you to do any heavy lifting this afternoon, and you should stop by the clinic and see Dr. James before you go out with Don this afternoon.” Rose directed, making sure that she met everyone's eyes so they understood that they were to help enforce the edict.

Sam was glad that they had managed to get the bulk of the materials up to the upper floors before lunch, because after Rose put her foot down he didn't have much else to do, other than wait for Donovan. The rest of the work crew watched him all the time and if he even looked like he was going to move anything that weighed more than a cup of coffee, they stepped in and asked if they could do anything for him. Sam ended up sitting on the steps of Glinda's house, his coat folded in his lap, sipping a cup of water. The skin on his left arm prickled and burned under the bandages, and he noticed that he had begun to scratch a persistent itch at his left shoulder. He tried to distract himself, watching the traffic, counting people walking dogs, doing calculus problems in his head, but it had little effect the itching and burning sensations grew and Sam had a strong desire to pull out Jack's big knife and do something more permanent about it.

“Yo! Jack! Buddy! Snap out of it.” Donovan shouted at Sam as he ran the last few yards to the bottom of the stairs where Sam sat. Donovan reached out and tipped Sam's head so that he was looking into Don's eyes.

“Don...”

“Yea, come on man, put it away. You don't want Rose seeing that do you?” Don continued, motioning with his free hand to Sam's lap. Sam looked down to see he had unfolded Jack's coat and had eased the big knife partway out of its hidden sheath. “She'll really freak if she knew that you still carry that big butterknife with you. Last time she caught you with it she threatened you with jail, and I know you don't want to end up there again.”

Sam shuddered as a terrifying bone deep thrill shook him to the core, a flash of pain danced across his skin, his eyes slamming shut as the scars on his face felt like they just caught fire.  
“Gnaah...” Sam choked through clenched teeth as the pain swept over him.

“Jack! Snap out of it!” Don shouted again, pulling his hand away from Sam's chin. “Breathe man, Breathe! That's it... nice... slow... deep... breaths, the pain will pass.” he instructed as Sam tried to get himself together. Don didn't touch him again, only gave him directions with his voice. As Sam surfaced from the intense pain he noticed that Rose, Raffaella, and the other members of the work crew were gathered around. Don made sure that they kept their distance from him, and was holding Rose back and shaking his head at the glare she directed at him.

“Don't touch him, it will only make it worse right now. Once he's able, I'll take him over to Dr. James' clinic. Doc knows what to do.” Don explained to the crowd, “I've seen Jack like this before, touching him will only intensify what he's feeling. Dr. James said that it's due to nerve damage. He needs time, it will ease up soon... Come on Jack, that's it, nice deep breaths, think of it flowing away from you.”

Sam took his time as the deep calm breathing eased his distress. When he could open his eyes he swallowed, and Don offered him the cup of water he had set down earlier. Sam nodded and took a few sips from the cup. Another shudder went through him, but it only left weariness behind.

“Getting better?” Don asked. Sam nodded, not feeling up to speaking yet. “Good, think you can stand? I'll take you to the clinic, and then to your place so you can get some sleep before dinner.”

“Don...” Rose started.

“Don't worry, I'll keep my eyes on him. I'm sure that what ever he did here today didn't bring this on. He's been looking a little peaky for the past couple of days, and from what I've been seeing he's been working toward this for the past week or two. I almost had you help me check him for fleas last week he was scratching so much. Then it looked like it was getting better, but I guess appearances can be deceiving.” Don explained disarmingly to the group, but mainly to Rose. Don and Rose locked eyes again, and after a time Rose nodded and climbed back up the stairs, herding the others inside. At the door she looked back at Don and he gave her a reassuring smile.

It took a few more minutes of calm, deep, breathing for Sam to feel like he could stand and walk. He got up slowly and handed his coat to Don, “Carry this, I don't think I can wear it right now.”

“Sure, we'll take it nice and slow. We've got plenty of time.” Don replied as he reached out for the coat, making sure that it's contents were well concealed and secure. Sam started walking slowly down the sidewalk, cringing slightly as people passed him too closely. Don tried his best to enforce an empty zone around Sam as he made his way back to the clinic, but it wasn't easy on the crowded sidewalk. Part way there Sam stopped, Don looked at him and saw that he was trying to refocus himself.

“Don, does that happen often?”

“It used to, but Jack hasn't had an attack for a couple of months. I'm surprised that his condition is affecting you. Is it common for stuff to cross over like this?”

“Occasionally I'll get bleed through from whoever I've leapt into. Usually it's mental stuff, knowing how to deal with the people I find around me, language clues. Intense emotions, and memories can break through at times. I've had to remember to take medications for whoever I replaced a couple of times, or I've suffered symptoms of whatever they've been taking the medication for.” Sam explained as he remembered instances from his past leaps.

“That could be it then. Come on, let's get to the clinic.” Don urged.

By the time they made it to the clinic, Sam felt almost back to normal, he was just very tired. Don checked him in at the desk and sat near him until Dr. James could see Sam. Dr. James asked Sam some questions about what he'd been doing and where he had been when the attack happened. Once Sam had answered, Dr. James asked him about the nature of the itching and pain and about where the sensations had originated. It wasn't until Dr. James started to take off the dressings over his wound that Sam's anguish returned. He inhaled sharply and hissed in pain as Dr. James touched his arm. The doctor moved quickly, stripping the bandages off of the wound and releasing Sam's arm. The area around the cut was irritated and angry red.

“Jack, I'm going to have to clean that up again. I know that it hurts, but I think that it's a reaction from your earlier nerve damage. You want some time to try to get the pain under control before I start?”

Sam nodded. “Ok, I'll come back in 20 minutes to take care of this.” Dr. James informed him as he turned and walked to the door. Once he left Don turned to him, “You know meditative techniques?”

Sam nodded again and turned his thoughts inward, calming his mind and focusing on deflecting and deadening the itching and pain that screamed for him to tear at his skin. By the time Dr. James returned, Sam was fully in control of himself, the itching and burning were gone. The redness and irritation had even faded a little from around the stitched wound. Dr. James cleaned the area around the stitches again, and wrapped the wound in clean bandages, “I'm going to want to see you tomorrow, Jack. I need to keep a close eye on this. Here's another tube of the ointment that worked so well for you last time. If you can wait until after I see you tomorrow to put it on, that would be best for that cut, but if the itching gets too bad I'd rather you used it before you tear out those stitches.”

“Thanks Doc.” Sam said as he prepared to leave the exam room, “I'll see you tomorrow.” Don gave Dr. James a nod and followed Sam from the room. Once they got outside, Don directed Sam to the subway, “Come on, I know you're tired. Jack usually walks but it's faster to get there by train.”

They rode the train only a short distance, before Don indicated that they should get off. Sam followed Donovan out of the subway, weariness etched into his features and his feet moving with a heavy stumbling tread. Donovan offered an arm at times, but Sam shook his head in refusal. Sam didn't want to risk another flareup of Jack's condition. A couple of blocks from the station, Don entered and alleyway and pulled on a rope attached to a fire escape, bringing the ladder down to where they could both start climbing.

“Jack's place is up on the roof, Sam. Do you want to catch your breath?”

Sam nodded, resting gingerly up against the wall trying to get his second wind before climbing up the six stories of fire escape he saw above him. Donovan gave Sam about 15 minutes before coaxing him to climb up to the roof. Once there Don led Sam over to a large storage shed and pointed to the deadbolt lock on the door, “You should have the key for this.”

Sam fished the keyring back out of his pockets and tried the key that looked like it would fit the lock. It slipped in and turned smoothly, the door swinging open on well oiled hinges. Sam entered into a tiny kitchen. To his right there were shelves on wall that held dried and canned foods, and utensils. Just ahead was a small refrigerator, single well sink and an electric stove. To his left a doorway opened into a larger room where the floor was covered with an oval braided rug. Two of the walls were covered by bookshelves, packed with books. One end of the room had an open cabinet which held clothes and had a clothes bar with a variety of hanging outfits. An electric heater, an easy chair, and a floor lamp were tucked in a couple of corners. A couple of light bulbs, enclosed in mason jars, hung from the center of the ceiling. Light came in through curtained windows at each end of the narrow room. There were vents at the top of the walls between the rafters, and another set in the floor, which kept the space from being too hot or stuffy. Sam saw a door near the far end of the room near the easy chair and went to investigate. He found a small but serviceable bathroom. The walls of the room were tiled. A bathtub and shower took up one half of the room, a toilet was across from the tub, with a small sink next to it.  
“Might as well try to get some sleep, Sam. I'll come back about an hour before we're due at Stargazer's” Don called as Sam investigated Jack's 'home'. Then he turned and left, closing the door behind him. Finishing his investigation, Sam realized that Jack must sleep in the recliner, there was no bedroom or cot to be found. Looking next to the chair Sam found a pillow and a couple of folded blankets, it was too warm to cover up so he just settled into the chair and leaned back, flipped up the footrest and tried to relax.

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Sam was startled awake by the sound of the Imaging Chamber door opening. “Hey Sam, this is quite the place. Where are we?” Al asked as he stepped in.

“This is Jack's place, Donovan brought me over after I finished up at Glinda's.”

Al took a little walk around, “Gee it has everything a guy like Jack could need. Surprising, he told me he was homeless.”

“I think there is a lot more to Jack than meets the eye. I certainly wasn't expecting this when Donovan said he would bring me to Jack's place.”

“Sam come and take a look at some of these books. He's got copies of just about all of your papers, and he even managed to get a bound copy of my computer science thesis.”

“Your computer science thesis?”

“Yea, I wrote it when I was at MIT after my stint with NASA. It's part of what got me into the Starbright Project. I guess they thought that it would help keep the project running if at least one administrator had a passing familiarity with some of the concepts they were studying, and as a bonus knew how to talk to the political nozzles in D.C.”

Sam got up from the recliner and walked over to the bookcase looking over the titles that filled the shelves. He recognized a lot of the titles and he let his fingers drift across the spines, wondering what kind of man Jack was. Al wandered away to check out the rest of the building, going into the bath and kitchen. Sam lifted the copy of Al's thesis off of the shelf aiming to take it back to the recliner and reading it before Don arrived to guide him to dinner.

“Sam! Come here, you've got to see this.” Al's voice called from the kitchen. Sam turned quickly to see Al appear, stepping through the wall, dropped the book he was holding and yelped in pain as the burning and itching once again flashed across his skin. 

“Sam! What is it?” Al's voice was concerned.

“Skin... scars... burn... itch...” Sam said haltingly as he tried to breathe through the sudden onslaught of sensation.

“Is it that bad?”

“Yessss.” Sam hissed.

“Did you go see Dr. James?”

Sam nodded, not feeling up to answering verbally.

“Ok, I better tell you what else I came here to tell you. I'll try to keep it short. We've been running tests on Jack. From what Dr. Lofton, and Beth can figure he's being affected by some kind of organic poison or venom. They're trying to find some kind of cure or anti-venom. Unfortunately whatever it is, its causing his condition to deteriorate. Currently, Jack is under heavy sedation and restraint, it's the only way Aurora and Beth can keep him from hurting himself. If we can't find a cure, Jack is going to die.” Al spoke rapidly and clearly.

Sam clenched his teeth and nodded to show he understood. He didn't like it, but he understood. Sam swallowed, and spoke in a whisper, “Ziggy?”

Al punched a few keys on the handlink and got a swift reply, “Ziggy says that the best bet is to keep your dinner invitation and go see Stargazer.”

“Why?”

The handlink chirped. Al glared at the display, “What!? That doesn't make any sense.” Al swatted the handlink and it let out a indignant squeal, “Ziggy is saying that... Why don't I have her explain.” Al voiced in clipped tones as he punched in the code to bring up Ziggy's hologram.

“Dr. Beckett, as I was informing the Admiral, I cannot determine how Stargazer is the solution to your discomfort. From what I can determine, there is something significant in the act of going to Stargazer's for dinner. By accepting and keeping the invitation, the percentages for your success increase significantly. My projections indicate that if you were to cancel this engagement you will not be able to successfully complete this leap. I would suggest that you do all that you can to keep your appointment.” Ziggy finished smugly before vanishing.

“Fine” muttered Sam through his pain.

“Sam, I wish I had a solution for you. Its hard when you're getting so much bleed through from Jack.” Al sympathized.

Sam nodded, taking a couple of deep breaths, he walked slowly back to the recliner and sat down, “Al, I'm going to try to get these sensations back under control. Meditation worked when it flared up at the clinic. Why don't you go back, I'll be OK here for now.”

“Ok Sam, I'll come back before you go to dinner.” Al said as he checked his watch, and punched up the code to open the Imaging Chamber door.

It took about 20 minutes of deep meditation for Sam to bring the painful fire under his skin down to a tolerable level. The sensation had spread and this last 'attack' had Sam feeling like both his chest and back had been peeled. Sam also realized that he was grubby and sweat drenched. He wanted to take a shower, but he knew that he shouldn't get the dressings on his arm wet. He rested for another half hour in the recliner before he felt up to seeing if there was anything in the kitchen that he could use to protect the bandages and let him get clean. A brief look through the sparse cabinets and shelves turned up a roll of plastic wrap and a roll of packing tape. Smiling, Sam wrapped his injured arm in the plastic wrap and sealed the edges with the packing tape. He was glad that the injury was on his arm and not somewhere less accessible. After he was fairly sure that it was as waterproof as he could make it, Sam grabbed a towel and washcloth from a shelf outside the bathroom and made his way to the tub. Closing the bathroom door, he flipped a switch that turned on the light and also a fan. He stripped quickly, and glanced into the mirror above the sink. Jack's image stared back at him, the scars that cut across his face and tracked across his chest looked more like gruesome tattoos. They weren't pale or red like Sam expected, they were a vivid blue, and they crossed and recrossed Jack's chest giving it a ragged diamond pattern. Turning slightly, Sam peeked at the image of Jack's back, here the damage was worse, there were so many lines what he could see looked like a layered map of the entire metropolitan area. Wondering at what could have caused such damage, Sam turned away from the mirror and stepped into the tub. Turning on the taps he ran the water for a little to clear the rust out of the pipes, apparently Jack hadn't been here lately. Sam's shower lasted longer than he had originally planned. He discovered that the water flowing across his skin soothed the prickly burning feeling that still threatened, and he was finally able to relax a little for the first time this afternoon.

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Al tossed the handlink to Lofty as he exited the Imaging Chamber, “I'm going to grab a bite to eat and get freshened up before going back to accompany Sam to his dinner engagement. Call me only if necessary.”

It didn't surprise Al, when he found that Beth wasn't in their quarters. He knew that she would be doing her best to figure out what could be done for Jack. Walking into the kitchen he discovered a stack of wrapped packages on the table, with a card leaning up against the pile. He thought about waiting until Beth could be around to open the presents, but he reasoned that if she had wanted him to wait she wouldn't have put them on the kitchen table where he would find them right away. He slipped his finger under the flap of the envelope and pulled out the card. Reading it he smiled and tore into the other packages. Beth and the girls had certainly outdone themselves this time. Al's smile widened when he thought about what Sam would think when Al next stepped into the Imaging Chamber. Looking at the kitchen clock, Al calculated how much time he had before Sam expected him. Seeing that he had about two hours, Al hung his coat across the back of one of the kitchen chairs and tossed together a light snack. Took his time eating, and indulged in reading the paper and a cup of coffee before taking a quick shower and dressing for dinner.

Wanting to check on Jack's condition and being sure that he had enough time to talk to Beth and Aurora, Al left his quarters about 45 minutes before he planned on heading into the Imaging Chamber. He had tried to relax, but he was concerned over the symptoms that Sam had exhibited and his mind wouldn't stop playing through worst case scenarios. Arriving at the medical lab he could sense the pervading gloom almost before he stepped through the door.

“Any progress?” he asked to announce his arrival.

“Well...” Beth started as she turned to look at him. A smile spread itself across her face as she took in what he was wearing, “I see you found part of your birthday gifts.”

“Part?” Al asked with a gleam in his eye. He met Beth halfway across the room and gave her a quick hug and kiss. “So when do I get the rest?”

“Hm, I'll have to think about it.” Beth answered with a similar gleam.

Hearing the banter, Aurora turned from the terminal where she was working and gave Al a once over, “Very nice. I see what you mean Beth, he really does look good in those colors.”

Al turned so that they could all get a good look, before he got back to business. “So, how's Jack doing?”

Beth sighed, “Not well, we had to intubate him an put him on a ventilator earlier. We've sent samples of his blood up to some of the chemical labs to see if anyone up there can come up with something that will help neutralize the foreign substances in it. All of our tests keep saying is that it's some kind of organic poison or venom, but it seems to be more than that. We're getting traces of inorganic compounds showing up in some of the tests, and they're all highly toxic.”

“The concentration of the toxin in his plasma is also steadily increasing, but we can't find the source.” added Aurora.

Al mused over this news and sent his thoughts back over what he had seen when Jack had torn off the Fermi suit. The ridges and creases across Jack's back made him shudder as memories of his own time in hell threatened to surface, but he squelched them, trying to remain detached. One memory kept coming back at him, one from after he had returned home, one from the long months he spent alternating being under a surgeon's knife being put back together and recovering at Balboa. It clicked, and Al knew that this memory held at least part of the answer, “Shrapnel.”

“What?” Beth said as she looked at Al. She had watched him think, and had noticed the slight tremor pass through his shoulders and hands, which could mean that he was either on the edge of a 'eureka' moment or that he was dredging up painful memories. It was a little surprising that this time it was both.

“Shrapnel,” Al repeated, “the toxin in Jack's blood, part of whatever put it there in the first place is still inside him.”

“But he was healthy before the leap. His medical history indicated that he hadn't suffered an 'attack' like what we saw in the Waiting Room for more than three months.” interjected Aurora.

“I think that something about the leap in must have exposed it to his system again. If there's some kind of organic based shrapnel in Jack, it would explain why the concentrations of the poison are increasing while he doesn't have any new wounds.” Al continued, the idea becoming more solid and ringing more true in his head as he explained.

“And if it's organic, it wouldn't necessarily show up on x-rays...” said Beth as she grabbed onto what Al was implying.

“And since Jack is 'homeless', whatever hospital he was treated at wouldn't go far beyond patching him up. They wouldn't have wanted to spend the time or money to run things like MRI or CAT scans that might turn up non metallic foreign bodies.” Al added as he continued to follow his train of thought.

Aurora broke in, “That's all well and good, but I feel that I should remind you that we don't have that kind of equipment here either.”

“True, and we can't risk moving Jack to the hospital at Albuquerque, his condition is too fragile.” Beth conceded.

“Dr. Lofton, Dr. Calavicci,” Ziggy's voice drifted down from the ceiling, “While we may not have the exact medical equipment you mentioned, similar equipment does exist in the project. I think that working with Sammy Jo, Tina, and Stephen, you may be able to adapt what we have.”

“Ziggy, could you have them come here?” Beth quickly asked.

“Of course,” Ziggy answered, “They are on their way.”

“Ziggy, contact the labs and get any equipment they need down here.” Al ordered.

“As soon as they determine what they need, Admiral.”

Al nodded his approval and gave Beth a farewell peck before leaving the medical lab. In the hall to the Control Room he almost ran into Sammy Jo and Stephen as they hurried by with their arms full of tools and electronic components. Ziggy had obviously given them some clue as to what they needed to do. Stepping into the Control Room, Al saw Tina hand off her station to another technician before following Sammy Jo and Stephen to the medical lab. Checking his watch he saw that it was close to 7 pm. “Is the IC ready?”

“Yes Admiral, nice threads by the way.” Dom answered as he held out a freshly charged handlink to Al.

“Ziggy, center me on Sam.” Al said with a smile as he walked up the ramp to the Imaging Chamber.


	7. Chapter 7

Sam lifted his eyes at the sound of the Imaging Chamber door. They were currently walking from the subway station to the front of the building where Stargazer lived. Donovan had arrived at Jack's place half an hour before their engagement and had led the way to the address, taking their time out of consideration of how Sam felt. While his earlier shower had eased the painful burning and itching across and under his skin, he was fearful of its return. Sam came to a sudden halt as he registered on Al's outfit once the door closed behind him. The first thing that came to mind as Al stepped in was 'he looks like a peacock'. It was hard not to think that. The outfit would have looked good on the bird. Gold shoes, shimmery green pants of a hue somewhere between teal and emerald, royal blue silk shirt, iridescent blue belt, a metallic lamé vest bearing the pattern of the aforementioned bird's tail feathers, topped by an emerald green fedora and completed with a narrow gold tie that matched his shoes. Catching Sam's look Al made a little turn, spinning around on the spot so Sam could see. 'Obviously preening,' Sam thought as he smiled broadly, “Very nice Al, I take it that the outfit's new?”

“Why yes, Beth said it was part of my birthday present.”

“Part?” Sam said with a knowing look.

“Those were her words, Sam, not mine.” Al hastened to add.

Donovan had stopped when Sam had, and now he tipped his head listening. “Hey Al, happy birthday. Makes me wish I could appreciate what Sam's seeing. Come on, we don't want to be late.”  
So urged, the trio walked down the block to the address on the invitation. Donovan presented the invitation to the doorman and they were directed to the elevators. Stargazer's home was at the very top, in the penthouse. Al kept centered on Sam so he appeared to ride the elevator up with them. Nyman met them as the elevator doors opened. “This way please.” Nyman said after he gathered up Sam and Donovan's coats. The penthouse was decorated in a restrained Japanese style, the rooms were separated by shogi screens, and there were tatami mats on the floor. Sam left his shoes at the front entrance and gave Donovan a glare as the boy started to step further into the room. Catching the look, Donovan quickly took off his shoes and set them beside Sam's. Nyman nodded before leading them through the rooms to a garden space. The majority of the space was made into a Japanese rock garden with large stones set on a field of small pebbles and sand. At the far end of the garden a man sat on the largest rock and looked out over the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. After escorting them to the garden, Nyman turned and left, sliding the screen shut behind him. At the sound of the screen closing the man on the rock turned and spoke. “Please come and join me. We have a bit of time before Nyman completes the dinner preparations, and I enjoy looking out over the city at this time of day.” He indicated a couple of stones near the one he sat on. Sam saw right away that there was no way to get to those seats without disturbing the surface of the pebbles and sand. Donovan noticed the same thing and with a shrug walked to one of the indicated stones. Sam looked at the patterns of Don's footprints in the pebbles and took a different route to the remaining seat. He saw Stargazer's eyebrow raise in appreciation of Sam's approach. Once Sam and Donovan had settled onto the large flat rocks that had been offered as seats, Stargazer looked directly at Al, “Please, join us.”

“Ah...” Al hesitated.

“You are here with him. Are you not?” Stargazer continued indicating Sam. “I can see that whoever that is, it is not Jackson Edward Beller. I see an older man with brown hair, except for a white lock above his left eye. He has a cloak of time wrapped tight around him and he has touched the weavings of fate many many times. You also share some of these things, and the bond between you both is forged of spirit that is stronger than steel. Come, join us, this evening will involve you as well.”

Al moved closer and pulled up the chair that he kept in the Imaging Chamber. He sat down, obviously uncomfortable that this man could easily see him and puzzled by what Stargazer had said.

Stargazer laughed, “Do not be so concerned! Nothing can harm you here. I invited you here because what I know will help you, and something you can do will help both Jack and myself in the future.”

“So, what can we do for you?” asked Donovan.

“You Donovan, can continue as you have been. Being the eyes watching over Jack, and the people around him. It is the task you are best suited for. These travelers will not be here forever, and Jack will appreciate your continuing assistance.” Stargazer said in a reassuring voice, “Most of what I have to say this evening is for the benefit of these two and Jack, but pay attention and remember so you can relate this discussion to Jack when he returns.”

Donovan nodded, “I will.”

“Now, I feel that proper introductions are in order. I am Stargazer, professionally I advise people on the choices they make with their lives, guiding them to paths that will provide them with growth and fulfillment. Sort of a spiritual guidance councilor.” Stargazer smiled as he turned to face Sam.

“Ah, I'm Sam Beckett, quantum physicist...” Sam said simply, not really knowing what else Stargazer would like to know.

Stargazer nodded and turned to Al, “And you?”

“Rear Admiral Albert Calavicci, project observer.” Al said with a shrug.

“I thought you looked familiar, Admiral,” mused Stargazer, “you've had quite the illustrious career.”

“What do you know about it?” Al asked in surprise before he could help it.

“Oh, just what the rest of the world does. I've always envied those men who've touched the sky. I can name all the crews of every space mission, and I keep up with what they do, once they return to ground, as best I can. I read a lot of newspapers, press releases, and magazine articles. It's a hobby that lets my mind stay active in more scientific circles. It helps me focus on the wonders of the more earthly realm, instead of drifting off into the esoteric ether.” Stargazer answered with a smile. “So many of the people I deal with fix their eyes on the heavens, trying to read their fortunes in the stars, and believing that they are influenced only by the motions of the planets... I find that I need to pay attention to the wonders that are closer, and follow a path that seeks a balance between the mental and the physical.”

Stargazer turned and looked out over the city again, listening to the traffic. Al looked at Sam with 'what a nutcase' written all over his face. Sam gave him a half glare back, which Donovan caught and he shrugged. Nothing more was said until a polite tap came from the doorway.

“Ah, dinner is ready. Let's head to the dining room.” Stargazer said as he rose and walked across the garden. Donovan and Sam followed him, with Al drifting alongside. Al looked down on the pebbles and sand and noticed that Stargazer left no tracks as he made his way across the garden. He shook his head, and caught a mysterious grin on Stargazer's face as he opened the shogi screen to enter the house. The room they were led to had a low table and cushions on the floor. There were several covered dishes on the table and a small display of bonsai trees as a centerpiece. Nyman was waiting for them and helped them sit, before heading back to the kitchen to work on the main course. Stargazer uncovered the dishes and offered the miso soup to his guests first, “I wish I could offer you some, Admiral. Nyman is a very good cook.”

“Thank you, but being an observer means exactly that. I can only observe. Although there have been times when I wish I could do more...”

“Like that time when I had to make chit'lins?” Sam added with a laugh.

“Sam, making chit'lins are a religious experience. You can't imagine what you missed, Jessy would have been ashamed that you never even tasted them.”

Stargazer laughed, “Sam, you made chit'lins and didn't taste them? How could you tell if they were done?”

“Exactly!” crowed Al as he shook a playful admonishing finger at Sam.

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Dinner was a relaxed affair, filled with idle chit chat that covered a wide variety of topics. Yet the conversation stayed away from the reason that Stargazer invited Sam and Donovan over for dinner. As they finished dessert, a light ginger ice cream with thin crispy almond cookies, Al's handlink chirped for attention. Looking at it, his expression became grave. Silence fell as he continued to read the information from Ziggy. Al swallowed hard and cleared his throat before trying to speak, “It's not good Sam, Jack's condition is worsening. They've had to put him on full life support, and they're taking him off of the sedatives. Aurora and Beth are afraid if they keep it up any longer he'll never wake up.”

“What was his condition before you sedated him?” asked Stargazer.

“He was in a lot of pain. Jack said that his scars hadn't felt like this since they first healed. He was yelling and screaming when he tore off the Fermi suit, said that it burned, but getting the suit off didn't relieve the feeling.” Al explained.

“He tore off a Fermi suit?” Sam asked.

“Yep, split the zipper and had it across the room before you could blink.”

“Hm, Jack will not be in good shape as he wakes up from this sedation. Be sure that he is securely immobilized or he will do himself much harm. Although it will go against the better judgment of your physicians, it may be better to let him feel the pain and burning, so that he can bring it under control himself.” mused Stargazer.

“I'll pass your word along, but I don't think that Aurora or Beth can just stand by like that.”

“What if he's just given painkillers and not an additional sedative?” asked Sam.

“I don't know.” answered Stargazer, “While some of what Jack is going through is psychological there is a good deal that is physiological. Have your doctors made any progress on what is causing Jack's health to deteriorate?”

Al queried the handlink, “Yes, they've managed to find a couple of areas where there might be shrapnel, but his condition is not stable enough to risk the surgery to remove it.”

“Shrapnel?” asked Don.

“Yes, it was my idea to look for something like that. We couldn't come up with any other explanation for why the concentration of poison in Jack's blood was increasing over time. I figured it had to be some kind of organic shrapnel, something that wouldn't show up on an x-ray. With Ziggy's help some of the scientists at the project were able to scan Jack's body to look for anomalies, like a CAT scan or and MRI.”

“You say that the concentration of the poison is increasing? Have you been able to determine a course of action to counteract it?” asked Stargazer.

“We've had a couple of ideas, but we haven't been able to find a counter agent yet.”

“What is it closest to in composition?” pressed Stargazer.

“The tests we've done show it to be some kind of bio-organic poison or venom mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“Well, there are some other toxic compounds that show up which don't usually appear in poisons or venoms produced by nature.” Al explained as he continued to reference the handlink.

“Excuse me Stargazer, but why are you so interested in this?” asked Sam as he watched the discussion and observed Stargazer's mounting fascination.

“I've been working with Dr. James for several years now. We've spent the past ten months trying to figure out why Jack's health stopped improving. I work with natural and herbal remedies, consulting with Dr. James to help provide patients of his clinic with effective and inexpensive assistance. So many of his patients have no where else to turn, and few of them have either the insurance or the money to buy pharmaceuticals. However, they can usually manage to buy a few herbs and spices that when mixed and applied will give them relief, and cause no greater harm. It is amazing what the body can heal when it isn't under the stress of pain.”

“So, what were you doing for Jack?” 

“I helped create the ointment that provided relief from the itching and burning sensation he was plagued with. With the assistance of Dr. James I was also conducting tests on samples we collected from Jack to see if we could discover something to counteract the poison in his system. We had come to an impasse as to why it was still present in his plasma, even though the wounds healed almost a year ago. If what Al says is true, then you've found the source of the contamination, we just have to find a way to make Jack stable enough for your doctors to remove it.”

“If you have any information I'll be sure that our doctors get it, we're running out of time.” said Al.

“Are you willing to trust me?” Stargazer asked as he met Sam's eyes.

Sam looked into Stargazer's eyes for a long time, then he nodded slowly. Stargazer stood and led the group to another room. This room was filled with elaborate lab equipment and potted plants in controlled environments. There were glass cases along the walls that housed insects, invertebrates, amphibians, and small reptiles. Stargazer walked over to a terrarium that mimicked a desert landscape, “It has been said that somewhere in the world the antidote for any poison exists within nature. The problem is that often there are great distances involved between the poison and the cure. I don't know how Jack received his injuries, but I know where he was. I started searching for an effective remedy at the point of origin and have been working in ever widening circles for eight months. In May, I discovered a substance that I think will be the solution. Unfortunately, if it is exposed to air it looses some of its properties and can only neutralize part of the toxins in Jack's blood.”

“So what is it?” asked Sam. Stargazer continued looking into the terrarium he stood by. Al came closer and peered into the tank, it looked empty to him, except for a few desert plants and piles of rock. Stargazer raised his eyes to Al, and opened the access panel. The room was filled with the sound of a chiming rattle. Al jumped back in shock.

“Rattlesnake?” exclaimed Sam as he watched Al's expression of horror.

“Actually I'm not sure what you could call Thadian. I don't know where he came from originally. I suppose that he could be a new species, or a radical departure from the standard western diamondback. I spoke to a lot of naturalists and Native Americans to try to find out when the first snakes like Thadian were sighted, and the only answer I got was that they didn't exist before the nuclear test at Trinity.” Stargazer explained as he reached a careful hand into the tank, shifted a few stones and lifted out the source of the chiming rattle. Thadian's scales were chalk white and silver, the diamond pattern glinting in the light. It's eyes were turquoise blue, and the tongue that flicked out of its mouth was jet black. Stargazer wrapped the snake's body around his arm while maintaining a grip just behind its jaw.

At the sight of the snake, Sam fell to his knees gasping in pain. His skin suddenly felt like it was on fire. Al rushed over to him and encouraged Sam to focus and breathe through the pain. Stargazer returned Thadian to his tank before coming to assist. “Don, how long has Sam been affected like this?” Stargazer snapped.

“Just today, first after lunch, then at Dr. James' clinic.” answered Donovan.

“And once at Jack's place.” Al offered.

Stargazer nodded, “Does this kind of cross over happen often?”

“Not like this, Sam often picks up on the emotional state of who he's leapt into, but its rare for him to be affected by physical afflictions.” Al explained quickly.

“Sam, I'm going to need a blood sample. I need to determine if you have any of Jack's poison in your system.”

“There shouldn't be, Sam physically replaces the person.” countered Al, suddenly fearful that Sam could be poisoned.

“That may be, but his symptoms and Jack's are too similar. It would be negligent of me not to check.” continued Stargazer as he went to a cabinet to get the supplies he would need. Sam meanwhile worked to calm himself as he knelt on the floor. When Stargazer returned Sam held out his uninjured arm. Once the sample was collected Stargazer went over to his lab equipment to begin his tests. Sam's breathing calmed and slowed as the pain ebbed back to a tolerable level. It wasn't gone, and parts of his skin itched terribly, but Sam felt that he was back in control. Donovan helped Sam into a chair when he could move and they all patiently waited for the results of the tests. Al paced nervously back and forth in front of Thadian's case, the snake clearly watching him through the glass, it's tongue flicking as it tasted the air.

“Well,” Stargazer sighed as the results started coming in, “I don't know why, but Sam has the same poison in his plasma that Jack does. It's not as concentrated, but these tests show that it is there.”

“It can't be.” stammered Al as he came to a sudden halt and spun to face Stargazer, “Where would he have been exposed?”

“I have no idea, but these tests show that it is there. We'll have to deal with the evidence before us, and that evidence says that Sam has been poisoned.”

“So, what do I need to do?” asked Sam as he looked back at Thadian.

“As you may have guessed, Thadian is the key to the cure. I was experimenting with different venoms and poisons, when I mixed some of his venom into a sample of Jack's blood. Then I tested it and I was quite amazed at the reduction of toxins in the blood sample. I don't understand exactly why it worked, I would have expected the two venoms to combine and become even more toxic. However, the opposite seems to be true, I've run several batteries of tests and the results are the same, but to be most effective you have to let Thadian bite you.” Stargazer said simply.

“Aw, geeze! I knew it had to be something like that! Sam, you can't possibly be thinking of going through with that! Are you?” Al snapped and stormed, waving his arms frantically.

Sam swallowed, looking at Stargazer, “You're absolutely sure that Thadian's venom is the cure for the poison.”

“As sure as I can be. I told you that if his venom is exposed to air it looses some of its effectiveness. Since I do not have the equipment to work in vacuum...” Stargazer shrugged, letting Sam know that it was completely his decision.

“Sam! Come on buddy, you're not thinking clearly! Using one poison to counteract another? I don't care what his tests say! It doesn't work like that!” Al protested stepping into Sam's line of sight, and waving to get his attention.

“What if it isn't?” Sam said softly ignoring Al's ongoing tirade and looking at Stargazer.

“I have antidote for Thadian's venom. It is a standard anti-venom. I've had to use it on myself once or twice. Alone Thadian is no more venomous than a standard rattler.” Stargazer shrugged at the startled looks on Donovan and Al's faces, “It isn't a good thing to get distracted when dealing with venomous reptiles.”

“Saaam, don't do it! It will only make things worse!” Al begged.

Sam stared into Thadian's case, watching the snake as it coiled behind the glass. The very idea of not just allowing a venomous snake to bite, but encouraging it to sink its fangs into his flesh, terrified him. With a detached thrill Sam saw himself move to the case and open the access panel, the chiming rattle filled the air again, as he stood there. That was the only sound Sam let himself hear as he reached in and bared his arm to the snake. Thadian rose up, menacing, the noise of his rattles clashing loudly about the lab. With a sudden shout of “Now!” Sam thrust his bare arm at the snake's head and Thadian struck. The bite hurt, sharp fangs piercing skin, the sudden pressure of injected fluid. Sam fell back as Thadian withdrew. Stargazer was at his side quickly, closing the case, and Donovan helped Sam back to the chair where he had sat earlier.


	8. Chapter 8

Al watched in stunned horror as Sam contemplated the snake in the case. Al's begging and shouted warnings went unheard as Sam approached the glass case and opened the access panel. Al stepped forward, halfway standing in the image of the terrarium, in a desperate attempt to stop Sam's actions. He watched helplessly as Sam steeled himself for a moment and then suddenly thrust his arm at the snake's head. He saw the snake whip forward, mouth agape and fangs glistening, to sink its teeth into Sam's right arm. It was over in less than a second, the snake pulled away and fixed Al with its glittering blue eyes. The look in those flashing cold orbs clearly told Al that he was next. Al did the only thing he could, he took one shuddering gasp and passed out cold, collapsing in a boneless heap on the Imaging Chamber floor.

Sam held his left hand over the bite, his ears ringing and the rush of adrenaline making his heart pound fast and hard. He could hardly believe it, he had just forced a venomous snake to bite him. His stomach churned, angry waves of nausea rising in his throat. Donovan quickly grabbed a waste basket as he saw Sam turn first deathly pale and then green. After Sam lost his dinner, Stargazer offered him a glass of water to rinse his mouth out and settle his stomach. It took a few minutes for Sam to register on the fact that he hadn't heard anything from Al for a while. Raising his head he looked over to where he had last seen his friend. There was no sign of him.

“Where's Al?” Sam asked, looking at Stargazer.

Stargazer turned to where he had last seen the Admiral, there was no sign of him, “I'm not sure, Donovan did you hear anything?”

“Hm, let me think.” Donovan mused, “I could hear Al, he was very agitated, pleading that Sam stop what he was doing. I was watching Sam as he let Thadian bite him. Then Thadian looked at someone standing right next to Sam, but I didn't see who that was. Then there was a noise like someone falling, or collapsing. I heard some electronic squealing and beeping from somewhere on the ground over there. Then there was a swooshing noise, a pause and then sounds of a couple of people, but I couldn't tell exactly what was going on. Their voices kept cutting in and out. It ended with another swoosh and a clunk.”

“I think that the Admiral fainted.” said Stargazer after some consideration. Sam nodded, agreeing with the interpretation of what Donovan had heard. Sam hoped that Al was alright.

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The first things that registered on Al's conscience was a gentle touch on his cheek, and Beth's voice encouraging him to wake up. He opened his eyes slowly, taking his surroundings, and groaned, he was in a bed in the infirmary. His head swam as he tried to sit up, Beth pushed him back down onto the mattress.

“Wha' happ'ed?” he asked groggily.

“You fainted, can you remember why?” asked Beth.

“How long?” he asked as he tried to sit up again. This time Beth offered a hand so that he was soon sitting on the edge of the bed, his feet dangling above the floor.

“You've been out for about 20 minutes.”

“I've got to get back. Sam's in trouble.”

“Not until I make sure that you're not going to keel over when you stand up.” Beth said firmly as she grabbed a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope, “Want to tell me what happened?”

Al shook his head and swallowed, “Not really.”

Beth pursed her lips, and Al knew that he would only be able to avoid telling her for now. She would not let him keep it to himself forever. It was another twenty minutes before Beth grudgingly let Al leave and go back to the Imaging Chamber. As he walked out, she let him know that she would be having Ziggy watch his vitals carefully, and if he was in distress she would personally have him hauled out and dragged back to the infirmary. “Promise?” he asked with a leer as he rounded the corner.

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Sam sat quietly in Stargazer's lab. Nyman brought a pot of weak tea and a tray of crackers, to help settle Sam's stomach. The shock was wearing off, and his hands trembled as he sipped the tea. Donovan stood near Thadian's tank, watching the snake as it settled down and appeared to doze. Stargazer had provided a bandage for the bite wound on Sam's arm, covering it first with an absorbent pad and then wrapping it in gauze. Now both of Sam's forearms were wrapped in bandages.

“How do you feel?” Stargazer asked, after giving Sam a once over. Taking his pulse and checking his temperature and shining a light into his eyes, to check the pupil response. About a half hour had passed since Thadian had bitten Sam.

“Strange, a little light headed, but I can't tell if that's from the bite or the aftermath of the adrenaline rush. The bite itself feels cool, sort of numb. The itching and burning sensations on the rest of my skin are fading away.” Sam answered after a bit.

“Good, I'd like you to stay here tonight. Just in case we have to counteract Thadian's venom.” said Stargazer as he helped himself to a cup of tea, “I don't think that you're going to have any trouble, but it will be easier to have you here if something does happen.”

Sam turned as he heard the sound of the Imaging Chamber door open. Al entered hesitantly, looking around as if he didn't know what he was going to find. He visibly relaxed when he saw Sam sitting in the chair with a cup of tea.

“God... Sam, I th... thought...” Al stammered, in embarrassment and relief.

“Al, it's OK, I'm fine. Stargazer was right. I'm feeling much better. There isn't any pain, it feels kind of cool, and my skin is a little tingly, but my head is clear.”

“His pulse is steady and strong, and his eyes are reacting as expected. Sam's speech is clear, and he hasn't developed a fever.” assured Stargazer, “Frankly, I'm glad that Sam's reaction has been so mild. From my tests I knew that Thadian's venom would counteract the poison, but I didn't know what the interaction between the two would be. It could have been very painful.” Stargazer's gaze focused seriously on Al, “Admiral, the rest will have to fall on your shoulders, I'm afraid. Now that we know that we have the solution to Jack's poisoning. It will be your task to find one of Thadian's kind and administer the cure to Jack.”

“You... You want...” Al swallowed convulsively, his mouth suddenly dry, and his heart pounding in his throat. He wrung his hands around the handlink and it squawked indignantly at the abuse. “You want me...”

“To go out into the desert near Trinity and find a snake like Thadian.” finished Stargazer.

Al shook his head violently, “I... I... I can't... I mean... getting used to Tina's pet alligator was one thing, but...” Al's whole body shook as his terror washed over him. Al fell into and off of the chair he kept in the waiting room and crumpled into a ball on the floor. His eyes were wide and dark with fear.

Sam looked at Al with pity, he knew that Al's fears were deep and well earned. However, Sam also noted that he was feeling much better, there were a few places that had a residual tingling but the awful burning and itching were now completely gone. He took a deep breath and it felt refreshing, “Al,” Sam moved and knelt in front of Al looking into his friends eyes, “you have to do this. It works, the burning and itching are gone.”

“But...” Al started miserably.

“I'm sorry Admiral, if you are where Jack is, it has to be you.” interrupted Stargazer, “It took me months to find Thadian, and you don't have that kind of time. I will take Thadian back to New Mexico later this summer and I'll return him to where I discovered him. I can show you a map of where to look.”

“Will... Will he be there in 15 years or so?” Al asked in a dry whisper.

“He should be, snakes are territorial. Unless something makes it so that they can't return to a location they tend to hang about. Thadian had a well established territory, and he's been here less than a year. I would expect that he can recover his ground easily enough.”

“Wha... What if he... isn't?”

“Thadian's home is at the border of a federal park, his kind is very good at hiding and he is protected there. It doesn't take much to maintain a snake in it's native environment, and snakes can live for a very long time. He will be there. I mentioned before that Thadian is unusual, he is very intelligent, I am sure that he understands that there is something more for him to do. He has been watching you very closely. He will recognize you when you go to look for him.”

Al looked back at the snake in the case, the reptile's beady, blue, unblinking eyes were fixed on him and Al could see the flicker of an alien intelligence behind them. Shuddering again, Al licked his lips nervously, “Can I... Can I at least... bring Tina along? She... has exp... experience handling snakes, I... I wouldn't want to hurt it... him”

“If you must, but I don't know if Thadian will allow anyone other than you to touch him. He can be very particular.” Stargazer conceded as he watched Al's distress. Stargazer walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a tube of rolled maps. He spread them out on an empty table and weighted the edges so it wouldn't snap back. Sam and Don came over to look at it. Al took another sidelong look at Thadian, picked himself up off of the floor of the Imaging Chamber, and then came over to see. “Here, this is a map of the area around Trinity. The monument is here, the edges of the park are here, there is a ridge of mountains running North to South along here to the west. There is a small peak that stands separate from the rest of the ridge. It's here, I found Thadian on the east slope of that peak. There are some buildings on the south side of the peak, I think they must do some kind of vehicular testing there. I saw assorted cars and light aircraft near some hanger like structures, while I was hiking around.”

Sam and Al exchanged startled glances and looked back at the map. They knew this area, they knew it well. Stargazer had unwittingly pinpointed the site of Quantum Leap, of course in 1988 it wasn't Quantum Leap, in 1988 it was the Starbright compound. “Um, how much time did you spend looking?” Al asked curious.

“Oh, about 2 months. The area is so beautiful I took my time, camping under the stars and learning the land. It was a wonderful experience.”

“And in 2 months you didn't run into any people?”

“Of course I saw people, like I said there are those buildings on the south side of the peak, but the people there didn't see me unless I wanted them to. I wasn't interested in what they were doing, and I was fairly sure they weren't interested in what I was doing, so I stayed out of their way.” Stargazer explained cheerfully. “From the expressions on your faces, I have a feeling that you two may know exactly what's going on at that site. However, I don't need to know, and I won't ask. Your familiarity with the area should make your search easier Admiral. Do you know of the caverns on the east slope?”

“Yes... I'm familiar with them.” Al answered warily.

“Start your search there. You'll probably hear Thadian before you see him, so pay attention with your ears. Snakes are most active at dawn and dusk, that's when they hunt. That may be the best time for you to go out looking. However, with Jack's condition as critical as you say, I wouldn't wait much longer. Take a pillowcase and a bucket along. Once you've captured Thadian, put him in the pillowcase and then in the bucket, that's the least stressful way of transporting snakes.”

Al swallowed again, his expression like a condemned man on the way to the gallows. He looked at Sam for reassurance, Sam nodded his encouragement, as Al opened the Imaging Chamber door.

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Al tossed his handlink to Lofty, “Tina, come with me.”

The steel in his voice let everyone know that Al was in 'Admiral' mode and something serious was happening. Everyone in the Control Room straightened up and paid attention, not yet knowing what their task would be. 

“What's up?” Tina asked with a high pitched giggle.

“I need your help, I'll explain on the way.” Al said as he continued on his way out of the control room and on down the hall to observation. He didn't want to stop moving, because he knew that if he did, it would give his thoughts a chance to catch up and he would realize the awful reality of what he was about to do. Al took a quick look in at the waiting room and saw that Jack was surrounded by medical personnel and life support equipment. Beth and Aurora were not present, so Al assumed that they would still be in the lab, trying to come up with a cure. Tina kept up as Al swept along the corridors to the medical lab. Entering, Al found both Beth and Aurora working over a set of test tubes and microscopes.

“Well Doctors, we've discovered the cure for Jack's poisoning.” Al announced as he entered the lab, relying heavily on bravado to get him through the task ahead.

“You have?” exclaimed Beth in surprise.

“Yep, but it's going to be a bit before I can get it here.”

“What is it?” asked Aurora eagerly.

Al's fear threatened to take his voice as he thought of the answer he had to give. “It's snake venom.” he said quickly.

“But we've tried that.”

“No... No, I don't think you heard me correctly.” Al explained with a little nervous shake of his head. He swallowed the sudden lump that rose in his throat, he'd lost his momentum and it took effort to complete what he needed to say, “The... cure... is snake venom.”

“You're saying that we have to add more poison to his system, to cure him?” Beth asked aghast. “You do that and it'll kill him for sure.”

Wanting to reassure them, Al held out his hands in supplication and tried to explain. “No it won't, not if it acts the same way as it did for Sam.”

“Same way as it did for Sam?” Beth parroted stunned. “What... How...”

“Sam's been having these kind of 'attacks' all day where he feels like his skin is itching and burning. The pain is really bad, I haven't seen him suffer like that in a long time. After dinner this Stargazer fellow who invited us took us to his lab. Apparently he's been working with Jack's doctor to try to figure out how to cure Jack. Sam had one of his 'attacks' while we were in the lab, and Stargazer said he wanted to test a blood sample for evidence of poison. Turns out that Sam was being affected by the same poison that is in Jack, I saw the test results and they matched what we found here. Stargazer said that his research had found a cure, and that it was the venom from a particular snake. This snake's venom neutralizes the poison already in Jack's system. I can't tell you how or why, but I've seen the results. I watched as Sam let this snake bite him. That's when I fainted, but when I got back Sam said that the venom was clearing away the pain and burning. Stargazer had taken Sam's vitals and said that they were all normal. When I left, Sam looked more at ease than he had all day, he was sipping tea and eating some crackers.”

“So now you're going out to look for a snake?” Aurora asked in a puzzled tone.

Al gulped, trying hard not to think too much about it, but still feeling the tendrils of fear tying his stomach in knots. “Yes... I... know what to look for... and where to start searching... I'm taking Tina, because she has more experience with snakes. That is, if she's willing to go.” Al finished turning to Tina.

“Oh sure, I'll be happy to lend a hand. Just let me change clothes, OK? I think I'll want something a little tougher than nylons between my skin and any fangs we run into.” Tina said as she turned to leave the lab, “I'll meet you out front?”

“Sure, you've got 30 minutes.” Al said as Tina left.

“Al, does it have to be you? Can't we get an expert to bring in one of whatever kind of snake it is?” pleaded Beth.

“Not... not this time Beth. I'm going out to look for a particular snake. You could say it's expecting me to find it.” Al gave a nervous chuckle, “You'll see what I mean when I get back. Keep Jack as stable as possible, I'll be back as soon as I can.” Al said as calmly as possible, considering the state of his own nerves, “Don't... don't try to talk me out of this, it'd be too easy. You... know how... how I feel about snakes, but I have to do this for Sam.”

“Be careful.” Beth sighed as she drew Al into an embrace and kiss. Beth let him melt into her touch for a while, but then pulled away. Knowing that even if Al wanted to stay here, he wouldn't forgive himself if there was something that he could do to help Sam complete the leap. “You better get moving dear, I'm sure Tina is waiting for you.”


	9. Chapter 9

Al left the lab with a regretful sigh, forcing himself to walk to the elevator. Straightening his shoulders, Al tightened the lid on his feelings of unease and made his way to the surface. As he rode up he thought about what Tina had said as she left to get ready. With a little shudder, as he recalled Tina's comment about fangs and nylons, Al realized that he should change clothes to something tougher. He stopped by his quarters and, with an efficiency born of his many years of military service, he changed into a set of motorcycle leathers and a pair of knee high boots. Taking a look outside, Al grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen before getting a pillowcase from the linen closet. The sky still held some light, but evening was fast approaching. Checking his watch Al hurried to the main entrance, to meet Tina. She was waiting for him, dressed in a pair of skin tight jeans, denim jacket and cowboy boots with four inch heels.

“Ready?” Al asked.

“Oh sure, I've been, like, waiting. 'S OK, I can see why. Where're we going?” Tina asked as she snapped her ever present chewing gum. She picked up a covered five gallon bucket and a metal stick with an ess shaped hook on one end and a handle on the other.

“What's that for?” Al pointed at the bucket and stick.

“Remember when Sam lept into that girl, I think her name was Leni, a few years back? Sam was shot up pretty bad. You were tryin' so hard to keep him, like, focused you didn't notice the rattlesnake that slid over your foot in the imaging chamber, til he, like, told you about it?”

“I'm not likely to forget that anytime soon.” Al muttered darkly, as a chill raced up his spine. Oh yes, he remembered the chaos that had ensued when the two dozen or so western diamondbacks had infiltrated the complex through a broken air vent on the surface.

“Well, I kinda asked the environmental guys who came to help round them up if I could have one of their 'trap kits', just in case we, like, had another incident.” Tina said brightly.

“Good thinking. Well, let's get this over with. Follow me.” Al said as he walked to the front gates, signed Tina and himself out, and took a left, hiking along the perimeter fence. Tina followed, a curious look on her face when they didn't head toward the parking lot. They skirted the fence, moving to the east as the sky got darker overhead. The only sounds were the crunching of the sand and gravel underfoot and the occasional snap of Tina's gum. After they had been walking for about twenty minutes, Al heard the first buzz of a rattlesnake's tail. He froze, the joints in his legs locking, as he listened and scanned the ground with his eyes to identify where the sound was coming from.

“Is that what we're looking for?” asked Tina.

“No...” Al hesitated as he finally spotted the snake, and moved away from it, “Not the right rattle.” he explained.

“So, the one we're looking for, like, sounds different?”

Al nodded, thinking about how he could describe the sound of Thadian's rattle, “It's more... metallic... sounds kind of... like keys jangling together.”

Continuing on, they were soon climbing up a fairly steep slope on the east side of the peak. Al had turned on his flashlight as the light faded, he didn't want to trip or fall into any holes, they were getting close to an area where he knew that there were caverns underfoot. The beam of light startled a wide variety of wildlife, jackrabbits, scorpions, tarantulas, packrats, toads and other things scurried out of the way, bats, night hawks and owls fluttered past overhead. Al's nerves were wound tighter than he could ever remember them being. In his head there was a loud debate going on between his dedication to Sam and helping complete this leap, and how nice it would be to head back inside where he didn't have to worry about anything that slithered, rattled or packed a venomous bite. Tina stayed close, but gave Al have plenty of room, she could see that he really didn't want to be out here. It made her think about the lengths that any of the people who worked for the project would go to to help Sam. They had all, at one time or another, put their lives at risk for the continuing success of the project. Considering how many close calls they'd had over the years, the few losses they had suffered were nothing short of remarkable. The sudden movement of a lizard distracted her and Tina let it move her thoughts away from the contemplation of who they had lost.

Al was getting ready to call it a night, they had been out hiking around for more than four hours. It was now completely dark, they had moved away from the security lights at the gate of the project. Out here there was only, starlight, moonlight, Ziggy's sensors and hidden guard posts manned with Marines equipped with night vision goggles. He was beyond tired, his energy being drained by the constant tension of what was turning out to be a fruitless search. It wasn't that they hadn't been able to find rattlesnakes, they ran across plenty of them, Al's skin was tingling with dread at every step he took. He knew that he wouldn't be able to take much more of this. Deciding that they would search for another fifteen minutes, he looked over at Tina. She was just to his left, scouting the area just beyond the light from his flashlight. They were working their way up a gully that cut into the mountainside and emptied out into the desert. It was Tina's thought that they might get lucky here. She explained that there were plenty of spaces in this gully that would appeal to snakes, piles of rocks, dense clumps of scrub, small hollow spaces under rocky overhangs. After they came across their fifteenth rattlesnake in the span of as many minutes, Al had to agree with her and made a mental note to stay far far away from here in the future.

Checking his watch, Al turned to Tina to let her know that he was calling it a night. He wanted to get back to his quarters and rest for a few hours before coming out here again. “Tina, let's start back. I don't think that we're going to find it tonight.”

“Ok sure, we should, like, mark where we are. So we can start from here next time.” Tina answered with a stifled yawn, her shoulders drooping and Al wished he had noticed her state earlier. If they didn't get lost it would take almost another hour to get back to the gate. Trying to figure out what they could use to mark their spot, Al remembered the pillowcase he had in his pocket. Pulling it out he spread it on the ground and weighted the corners with rocks. It glimmered whitely against the dusty beige and tan of the soil. Standing up he looked out over the landscape, orienting himself to where he was. Taking the 'trap kit' bucket from Tina he started walking, heading back to the project gates. She stumbled after, trusting Al to pick the route off of the mountainside.

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Nyman directed Sam and Donovan to the guest suite in Stargazer's penthouse. The rooms were comfortable, consisting of a couple of bedrooms, a sitting area and a full bath. They were provided with toiletries and towels and Nyman let them know that breakfast would be served at 8 the next morning. Sam realized that he was exhausted and after brushing his teeth and using the facilities he eagerly climbed into bed and fell asleep. Donovan made a phone call to reassure Nana that he was safe and fine, and that he would see her soon. Then he also got ready for bed and turned in. Not falling asleep right away he stared at the ceiling thinking about what he had learned today. He was extremely curious that there was something, well really someone he corrected himself, that he couldn't see. Then there was the whole 'disguise' thing with Sam, with a little effort Don found that he could make Sam's image flip back and forth, so that at times he saw Jack and at others he saw Sam. However, if Don didn't think about it he only saw Jack's image and he wondered how they managed to do that. It wasn't magic, Don knew that Sam was a scientist, and thanks to Jack's library, Donovan had even read some of his papers. He didn't understand much of the technical stuff, but what he did understand was completely fascinating. Then there was Al's question about Thadian being in New Mexico in 15 or so years. Did that mean that right now Jack was at least fifteen years in the future? A smile formed on Donovan's face as he closed his eyes and considered what he could do to find the answers to this puzzle.

It was well past midnight when Donovan woke to the sound of the swooshing noise that he now associated with the arrival of Admiral Al. From the next room he could hear the Admiral's gravely voice trying to wake Sam up. Getting out of bed and grabbing a bathrobe off of a hook near the door Donovan padded over to Sam's room.

“Sam, come on Sam, wake up.” Al said in an exaggerated stage whisper.

Don looked at Sam and saw that he was deeply asleep, “Al, I don't think you're going to wake him anytime soon, he hasn't moved in hours.”

Al jumped and gasped at the voice that suddenly spoke up from the doorway behind him, “Kid, don't sneak up on me like that.” Al scolded.

“Sorry, I wouldn't have if I could see where you were.” Don apologized, “We should let him sleep, I can take a message for him if you'd like.”

“Ok, sure, I guess my news can wait until he wakes. Let Sam know that we've started the search for Thadian, but I haven't been able to find him yet. I'm going to get some rest myself and then go out again. Jack is hanging in there, but his condition isn't good, our physicians are doing all they can to keep him stable.” Al relayed, finishing with a yawn.

“Anything else?”

“No, I'll come back in a few hours to update you on Jack's condition, but I've got to get some sleep first.” Al muttered as he keyed the code to open the imaging chamber door.

“Sweet dreams, Admiral.” Donovan said as he heard the door open and Al's footsteps retreat.

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Sam woke to the sound of a light tapping at the door. Sunlight was filtering in through the curtains at the window. He blinked, turned over and started to sit up.

“Dr. Beckett, breakfast will be served in about a half hour.” Nyman's voice came from the doorway.

“Thanks Nyman, I'll be there.” Sam answered around a yawn. Getting up he found a bathrobe hung on a hook near the door. He stopped in the bathroom to wash his face and do something with his hair and he looked at his reflection in the mirror. Jack's face looked back at him, looking well rested, although his hair was tousled and stuck up at odd angles. The scars on the left side of his face were lighter than Sam had seen them before. Where yesterday they had been a vivid blue, they were now pale and kind of silvery. Sam opened the front of the robe to check the scars on Jack's chest. They had also faded and now looked more like normal scar tissue. Sam went back to his room and quickly dressed before venturing out of the guest suite and heading back to the dining room. Not finding anyone there he listened and heard the sound of people speaking in a nearby room. Sam entered and found himself in the kitchen where Nyman was cooking, Stargazer was sitting at a small table with a cup of coffee and some toast and Donovan was busy juggling a handful of oranges while talking to Stargazer.

“You're looking well. I take it that you found the accommodations adequate?” Stargazer commented when he saw Sam at the door.

“Yes, thank you. I slept very well.” Sam answered.

“I'll say, you didn't even stir when Al showed up at 3 this morning.” commented Donovan with a smile.

“Al stopped by? What's wrong?” Sam asked, suddenly concerned.

“He stopped by to let you know that they started to search for Thadian, but haven't been able to find him yet.” replied Don as he caught the oranges and put them back in the fruit bowl, “Oh, and that Jack's condition is not good, but the doctors are doing all they can to keep him stable. He was really tired, but he said that he would stop by later this morning to update you on Jack before he went out to continue the search.”

Sam nodded, accepting that there was very little he could do from here to help Al. He joined Stargazer at the small table as Nyman dished up a platter of scrambled eggs, a plate of toast and a bowl of cut fruit.

“So, how are you feeling this morning?” asked Stargazer.

“Good, really good. The cut on my left arm, and the place where Thadian bit me, are a little sore, but not beyond what I would expect. When I looked in the mirror, I could see that Jack's scars have faded dramatically.”

“I'd like to give you another once over before I let you leave, and I'd recommend that you stop by Dr. James' clinic today.”

“Yes, he wanted to see me today. He was concerned with what happened at the clinic yesterday.”

“I expect that he would be.” agreed Stargazer.

After breakfast Stargazer took Sam back to his lab to check him out and run tests on another blood sample. The tests came back showing that the poison had been completely neutralized, so Stargazer gave Sam a clean bill of health. Donovan gave Nyman a hand to clean up the dishes and guest rooms then caught up with Sam as he prepared to leave.

“I'll make sure you get back to the neighborhood. You weren't in any condition to remember the route we took to get here.” Donovan kidded with a grin, “Then I've got to go check on Nana and run some errands. Maybe I'll catch up with you at Glinda's later.”

Sam nodded, thankful for the offer of assistance. Sam wasn't too worried about finding his way back to Jack's neighborhood, but it might have taken a while. Thanking Stargazer once more, they got back into the elevator and made their way back down to the lobby. Donovan led the way to the nearest subway station and they got on the train that would take them back to the area around Glinda's. Sam was surprised at how good he felt, his mood could only be described as buoyant. He joked and chatted with Donovan, having fun quoting movies and breaking into song as the subject of Broadway musicals came up. The trip went quickly, they arrived at Dr. James' clinic just a little before it opened. Donovan made sure that Sam knew the route from here to Glinda's as he excused himself, leaving Sam to wait for the clinic to open.

There were a couple of other people, an older gentleman and a young woman carrying a small child, also waiting for the clinic to open. Sam nodded to them and they ignored him. Everyone was relieved when a nurse unlocked the doors a couple of minutes later. Sam signed in at the desk and took a seat in the waiting room. He didn't have long to wait, a nurse soon called him back to an examination room, offered him a seat and then left. Soon there was a knock on the door and Dr. James entered.

“So Jack, how are you today?”

“Quite good, I went to see Stargazer last evening and he really helped me out.”

“Oh really? Did he tell you about our working together?”

“Yes, he did, and I'm glad of it. Last night I discovered that he'd figured out how to neutralize the poison in my blood.”

“Wonderful! So are you going to take his advice?”

“I already have, and I'm feeling much better today.”

“Good, good,” Dr. James said with a contemplative nod, “So how about I take a look at that cut on your arm?”

Sam shucked out of his coat and folded it carefully over the back of the chair. Dr. James gave him a curious look when he saw that both of his arms were covered in bandages from wrist to elbow, “The cut was on your left arm, so what's happened to your right?”

“Oh, that's from the treatment I got at Stargazer's. He said it'll be OK in a couple of days.” Sam covered as he held out his left arm for the Doctor's inspection.

Dr. James raised an eyebrow, but let it pass as he reached out to undo the gauze wrapping that covered the stitches. He was pleased to note that Jack didn't flinch or draw away from his touch, in fact the cut didn't seem to be bothering him much at all. It had oozed a little, but that was to be expected. There were no signs of irritation or infection, so Dr. James re-bandaged it. Telling Jack that he would be fine, and that he could expect that the stitches would start falling out in about a week, he sent the man on his way. Dr. James retreated to his office to place a quick call to Stargazer to confirm Jack's visit.

Sam stepped out of the clinic and turned to make his way over to Glinda's. As he walked he realized that Rose might not let him do much today, considering what had happened yesterday, but since he had nothing better to do he continued walking. As he reached the bottom of the steps to the front door Sam heard the swoosh and clunk of the imaging chamber door opening. Turning, he saw a very ragged looking Al enter, holding a cup of coffee and still dressed in his red silk pajamas and striped and polkadot bathrobe. 

“Al, you look like hell. I haven't seen you in that outfit since my first leap. What happened?”

Al waved a weary hand, “Morning to you too, Sam.” he looked down at what he was wearing, “I'm just here to give you a quick update. Then I'm going to try to sleep for a couple of hours before going back out to scour the local landscape some more.”

“You haven't been to sleep yet?” Sam asked stunned, before he registered on the look on Al's face. Al's eyes still held a haunted fearful gleam, they had dark rings under them, and his skin was tinged gray from memories of fear, “Sorry, this one's rough on you, I know.” Sam apologized.

“Yea, you would take my place if you could, but you can't and I wouldn't want you to. So we both have to deal with it as it is.” Al prattered to cover up his deep appreciation of Sam's compassion. “Ok, on to business, Beth and Aurora have reduced the amount of sedatives and Jack has been showing some signs of waking. However, he is still in a lot of pain and there is some evidence that the poison is starting to damage Jack's nerve and muscle tissue. It's too early to tell if the damage is permanent or if he can heal once we neutralize the poison. Ziggy says that once we manage to administer the cure to Jack, you'll have a good chance of leaping out. In the meantime, keep your eyes open around here, there may be something that Jack is supposed to do that you'll have to take care of since he isn’t in the waiting room. Ziggy is being cagy, she's still predicting that you'll have to resolve a conflict here at Glinda's and that you have to rescue Rose from a kidnapping attempt.”

“What are the percentages on those?”

Al referenced the handlink. “Twenty point seven percent for the conflict and forty five point nine for the kidnapping.” Al finished with a yawn, “I've got to get going. Take care, I'll try to stop by later this afternoon.”


	10. Chapter 10

Al stumbled out of the imaging chamber and gave the handlink a weary toss to Dominic before leaving the control room to stagger down the hall to his office. After getting in from the search last night Al had tried to sleep, he really had. Unfortunately his brain wouldn't let go of the image of Thadian biting Sam's arm and he had woken repeatedly with a shuddering gasp or a hastily bitten back scream. Half an hour ago he had given up on the idea of unaided sleep and he had made his way down to the infirmary to ask Beth for help. While he hated the idea of taking sleeping pills, he knew that he wouldn't be in any shape to continue the search this evening if he didn't put in some hours now. He'd found Beth asleep in her office, wanting to be available at a moments notice if Jack's condition deteriorated. Beth had sent Aurora home several hour ago, so that she could care for her son and get some sleep. If she was surprised by Al's request she hid it well, but she did request that he tell her where he was planning on sleeping. That was what had made Al decide that he would crash on the couch in his office, he would be nearby if Beth felt like she needed to check on him. Closing the office door behind him he addressed the ceiling.

“Ziggy, wake me up at 4 pm. I need to go out searching again.”

“As you wish Admiral, will you want me to wake you for anything else?”

Al yawned as he put his coffee mug on top of his filing cabinet and washed down the sleeping pills with a glass of water, “Only if you really feel it's necessary, Zig.”

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Tina sat at the table in the cafeteria and wrapped her hands around her coffee mug staring into its murky depths. This was her third cup and it still didn't seem to hold the power to wake her up. She wanted so much to help Al, and it had been kind of exciting at first. Now she realized that it was a lot of hard work, and they were going out again tonight to keep searching. She couldn't remember the last time she had spent over 6 hours hiking out in the desert. It had been night, but in a way that had made it worse. Al's tension, concern and outright panic had really taken it out of her, she hated seeing him like that, but she also knew that he had to fight his personal demons alone. He'd said that what they were doing was vital to help Dr. Beckett and for that she could stand spending her nights scouring the desert for a particular rattlesnake. She consoled herself that at least tonight they would be better prepared, they would remember little things like extra water and flashlights, and they would be starting out before it got dark. Her thoughts swung upward as she realized that with all the hiking she could probably skip her sessions at the gym this week. She shifted in her seat, her muscles were sore from the unaccustomed workout and they complained.

A young man in a marine uniform came up to her table carrying a tray with a sandwich, bag of potato chips and a cup of soda, “Hey Tina, can I join you?” he asked brightly.

“Oh sure Donnie, how's it going?” Tina agreed, trying to sound upbeat and awake.

“Not bad, just got done with my shift. They've got me doing perimeter duty this week.” Donnie looked at her, “What's with the conservative threads? I don't think I've ever seen you in such down to earth clothes.”

Tina looked down at what she was wearing, a simple bright pink t-shirt, denim leggings with a thin black belt, denim jacket and cowboy boots, “Oh, this is 'cause I'm helping the Admiral with, like, something.”

“Does this 'something' have to do with why you two were wandering around outside the fence last night?” Donnie asked with a grin.

“How do you...” Tina stopped her question when she realized that because of the security around the complex it would have been foolish for her to think that their searching the night before had gone unobserved. Particularly foolish, since she had been one of the main people designing the project's security system. “Duh, security.” She answered herself.

Donnie tapped the side of his nose, “Got it in one. You were out there for a long time. Did you find what you were searching for?”

“No, we're planning on heading out tonight and starting where we left off. Al marked the spot, so we should be able to find it.”

“You want an extra pair of eyes? You know I'm good at finding stuff.” Donnie asked with a bright glitter in his eyes, “It's been a while since the guys have come up with any decent challenges for me.”

Donnie's comment made Tina smile as she recalled how she met the Lieutenant.

*************************************Flashback********************************************

As she got out of her car Tina had felt her earring fall. She heard it bounce and clatter, disappearing from sight. 'Damn' she cursed softly, this pair was her favorite, Gushie had given her them as an anniversary gift and it was one of the few things she had kept to remind her of him. She got down on her knees, disregarding that she was wearing a rather frothy white shirt, frilly bright pink mini skirt, sheer nylons and 4 inch spike heels, to search under the neighboring cars for her fallen jewelry. She scuttled around, looking both under her car and the ones on either side. It was gone! She couldn't even see a glimmer of it. Squirming, Tina started to work her way under a car to make sure she hadn't missed it hiding behind a tire. As she wriggled back out, Tina cracked her head on the side mirror of a car when a voice startled her from behind.

“Pardon me ma'am? Do you need any help?”

“Owwww!” Tina replied, turning and sitting down on the ground as she rubbed the top of her head where it had impacted the car, “Don't do that!”

“Do what?”

“Sneak up on people like that!”

“Sorry ma'am. It just looked like you could use some assistance. Did you drop something?” the young man asked. Tina took a better look at the man. His uniform identified him as one of the marines assigned to the project. He had dark black hair, deep brown eyes and a friendly look on his face. His name tag said Rook, D. and she saw that he was a 2nd Lieutenant. His project badge was clearly displayed and looked brand new.

“You're, like, new here, right?”

“Yes ma'am, I came on board last week.”

“Well Lieutenant Rook, I could, like, use some help in finding my earring. It kinda fell off as I got out of the car.”

“Not a problem ma'am, does it match the other one you're wearing?”

“Yes”

Lieutenant Rook dropped to the ground like he was about to do a pushup and scanned across the surface of the parking lot, looking under the cars. Then he stood, took a few steps, reached down and plucked Tina's missing earring off of the ground, “Here you go ma'am. Is there anything else?” He asked as he brushed some dirt off of the earring and handed it to her as he helped her to her feet.

“How... You saw where it fell! You were watching me get... get all dirty!” Tina exclaimed in shock, her usual ditzy vocabulary knocked right out of her head at the thought of this man ogling her as she scrambled under the cars.

Lieutenant Rook threw up his hands defensively and blushing to the roots of his hair he stammered, “Oh no, no ma'am, absolutely not! I just thought you could use some help finding whatever you'd lost, honest!”

“If you're lying...” Tina bristled then spun on her heels and stormed off to the door of the complex. Once she was inside the elevator she directed her voice to the ceiling, “Ziggy, how long was it before Lieutenant Rook offered to assist me finding my earring, after he entered the parking lot?”

“It was approximately 15 seconds after he noticed you on the ground. I take it that he did help you find your earring?”

“Yes, thank you Zig.”

“I have noticed in the short time he has been with us, that the Lieutenant is a very observant man.” Ziggy mused.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a couple of weeks later that Tina ran across Lieutenant Rook for a second time. He was standing against the wall outside of the rec room, blindfolded and accompanied by a pair of young marines. Tina recognized them as Jaspers and McCray, who often pulled shifts guarding the waiting room. Tina could hear laughter and voices coming from the rec room, but the door was closed. From the looks on their faces Tina could tell that Lieutenant Rook wasn't in trouble, but she was confused by the blindfold.

“What's up fellas?” Tina asked curiously.

“We're testing Donnie,” Jaspers replied.

“Testing?”

“Yea,” replied McCray, “See, Donnie's got this knack, but a lot of the guy's don't believe us when we tell the stories.”

“So, we grabbed a bunch of stuff from his rooms, and some office supplies, and got a couple of the security specialists hiding it all in the rec room. Mark's got a camera set up and he's going to film Donnie while he does a treasure hunt.” explained Jaspers.

“Lieutenant Rook, are you, like, OK with this?” Tina asked, concerned that this was some kind of malicious prank.

“Yes ma'am, it's fine, stuff like this helps keep me sharp.” Donnie said with a smile under the blindfold.

“Why is he blindfolded?” Tina asked.

“We can't let him see what we took in there to hide. It gives him too much of an advantage.” continued Jaspers

“See, we let Donnie see the room before we hide things. Then we bring him out here and blindfold him while the others put stuff in place.” added McCray

“Then we turn him loose. Once Donnie thinks that he's found everything we check it against a list we made earlier of what we hid.” finished Jaspers.

“Can I watch?” Tina asked, intrigued by the challenge.

“Sure, in fact you could help us out. How would you like to be our 'outside witness'?” asked Jaspers.

“Outside witness?”

“Yea, it will help add to the film's credibility if we have an observer that isn't military. Now that we've told you about the basis of the trial you'd be perfect.” enthused McCray, “Come on, I'll take you in and we'll get an introduction from you on film. All we need is a little statement that you understand the premise and that you've never seen Donnie preform the test before.”

Twenty minutes later Tina stood next to a table full of odds and ends. She was handed a printed list and asked to go through the items on the table and match what she found to the items on the list. Everything was in plain sight and neatly arranged on the table. Since they were still on camera, Tina read the list aloud like a checklist.

“Twenty paperclips.”

“Check!” McCray answered

“Four ball point pens.” “Check!”

“One stapler.” “Check!”

One of the marines panned the camera across the items on the table as Tina read from the list. He was sure that everything mentioned was clearly visible for the camera so they could have their documentation. Tina continued to read and was glad as she reached the end of the list.

“Three New York City Subway tokens.” “Check!”

“One baseball.” “Check!”

“Five packs of chewing gum.” “Check!”

“One pair of women's nylons.” “Check!”

“An orange.” “Check!”

“Six packs of 'Sweet N Low'.” “Check!”

It almost took longer to go through the checklist than it had taken Donnie to find everything that the others hid in the rec room. Tina was impressed, Donnie had swept through the room with a methodical precision. Coming back to the table when his hands and pockets were full, he would put the stuff down neatly and then continue to the next part of the room.

Once the trial was done Tina joined the marines at lunch in the level 5 cafeteria. They spent lunch talking and joking, while trying to come up with ideas for Donnie's next challenge. Tina discovered that Donnie was a 'sweeper' someone who specialized in clearing surveillance equipment from rooms. He was also an accomplished security specialist who could install such equipment when necessary. There hadn't been much call for his talents since he had been transferred onto the Quantum Leap Project.

Over the next month Tina had helped the guys plan out and execute 3 challenges for Donnie. When his CO found out about the trials they became more like training operations and started including tasks where Donnie was allowed to bug and wire a room while the rest of the team was called upon to debug it. Even Ziggy got in on the tasks, giving her opinions and observations from the ceiling mounted speakers that ran throughout the complex.

***********************************End Flashback*****************************************

“Could you? That would be, like, so cool!” Tina enthused at Donnie's offer of help.

“It would be by pleasure, Tina.” Donnie replied, “When are you planning on going out?”

Tina checked her watch, “About two hours from now.”

“Ok, I'll meet you both at the gate. I should have enough time to change clothes and sign out a jeep from the motor pool.”

“A jeep?” Tina asked curiously.

“You'll want to get back here quickly after we find what the Admiral is looking for, right?”

“Oh yea, I guess we will.” Tina agreed after a moment.

Donnie finished his sandwich, soda and chips. Then he left to arrange for transportation.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Al stumbled to his feet. Ziggy's wake up call was not welcome and he snarled up at the ceiling.

“Admiral, shall I remind you that this was your request?”

“Ugh, right, I'm up, I'm up. Now leave me be.”

“Of course, Admiral.”

Al worked his way up to his quarters to shower and change. He pulled on his motorcycle leathers and tall boots. Not feeling like he could eat he put on a pot of coffee. Checking his watch he saw that he had half an hour before he was expected to meet up with Tina at the gate. Forcing himself to remain calm Al made his way to the compound entrance. Only by keeping Sam's need in mind was Al able to walk there. Last night had been bad. His dreams had dredged up terrors from his past that he really hadn't wanted to visit again. These were silent nightmares, memories of cowering silently, trying to remain absolutely still, understanding that any movement would bring sudden painful death. Death by poison, administered by fangs.

Getting to the gate, Al saw Tina standing next to a Jeep talking cheerfully to the driver. The driver was a young marine, wearing a broad brimmed hat and desert fatigues. When the two of them caught Al's approach, Tina waved and the marine hopped out of the jeep and snapped to attention. Al nodded as the man saluted with crisp precision. Al automatically returned the salute, glanced at the man's rank and spoke.

“At ease Lieutenant.”

“Thank you, Admiral.” the Lieutenant replied with a joyful sparkle in his eye.

Tina spoke up, “Al, this is Donnie, he's, like, gonna help us look.”

“Oh?”

“Yes Admiral, that is if you approve, sir.” Donnie replied with a little blush.

There was something about the kid's voice and attitude that set bells ringing in Al's head, but he was just too tired to figure out why. Looking at the Jeep Al was pleased to note the stash of supplies behind the back seat. He could see a cooler, a first aid kit and several flashlights. Tina's 'capture kit' was also tucked in securely. Al walked to the passenger side, as Tina climbed into the backseat. The lieutenant got in behind the wheel and started the engine.

“Go to the left, along the perimeter Lieutenant.” Al instructed.

“Aye aye, sir.” Donnie answered as he drove them out of the gate.

About twenty minutes later the jeep stopped at the base of the gully and the Lieutenant, pointed out the location of Al's pillowcase. Climbing out of the Jeep Al went to the cooler for a couple bottles of water, which he stowed in the pockets of his jacket, before starting up the slope. The other two ranged out to either side, staying about ten feet away from the Admiral so they could cover more ground. It wasn't long before they were running into snakes again, but Al felt somewhat better with the Lieutenant along and a jeep nearby. In an attempt to keep his fear in check, Al thought about the Lieutenant who joined them. He was new, Al couldn't remember seeing him around much. His badge had named him as Lieutenant Rook, which sounded very familiar to Al's mind, but he couldn't recall why. Focusing back on the task at hand, once they had reached the pillowcase marker, Al worked his way further up the gully checking all of the areas that could serve as hiding places carefully.

Evening came and went, as they continued to search the eastern slope. They scanned the ground with their flashlights and strained to hear the distinctive chiming rattle that would herald the find. Tina was fighting back yawns, and Al was muttering under his breath with displeasure. As Al checked his watch, and noticed that it was getting close to midnight, Lieutenant Rook came to a sudden stop, his eyes focusing on a point about twenty yards away.

“What is it?” Al asked in a whisper.

“I'm not sure, but it may be Thadian.” answered Donnie in a quiet voice.

“How do you know that name?” snapped Al as he glared at the Lieutenant.

“I've met him before, Admiral. I'm Donovan Rook, Jack Beller's friend.” Donnie explained in a calm voice as he continued to focus on the point in the distance.

“Donovan? What are you doing here?” Al asked, still puzzled.

“I'm a Marine Lieutenant, Admiral. Quantum Leap is my post, sir. I received my orders to report here four months ago. I requested transfer here a year ago, apparently headquarters thought I was good enough to be brought on board.” Donovan replied with a smile.

Thoughts spun through Al's brain as he tried to figure out what could have happened to put Donovan here right at this time. The only thing he could come up with, that made any sense what so ever, was that God, Fate, Time, or Whoever had lent a hand and set it up. Irritated, Al kicked a small stone, and listened as it clattered away across the ground, he hated being manipulated like this, but he was grateful for the young man's help. 

“Well, we may as well check it out. Lead the way Don.” Al said as he waved the Lieutenant forward.

Donovan walked towards the spot that had caught his eye. About twenty yards ahead was a pile of loose rocks and at their base was a glint of silver. Al and Tina followed at a healthy distance. When Don was about five feet away from the rocks the sound that Al had been waiting for sliced through the still night. Al stiffened, fear clawing at his stomach. Donovan took a couple more steps toward the snake and then stopped.

“Admiral, I think that you're going to have to do the next part.” Donovan said softly, “I don't think that Thadian will let me touch him.”

Al swallowed, his throat dry, icy crawling fingers of fear running up his back and freezing him to the spot. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on what he had to do, and why he had to do it. He ran through all of the rationalizations and held a silent argument inside his head, trying to figure a way out of this situation. In the end it came down to the fact that he would do anything, absolutely anything, to help Sam, and that right now what he had to do was to step forward and pick up Thadian. Al held his hand out to Tina and she handed over the 'capture kit'. The bucket felt like it was made from lead as he grasped the handle and forced himself to take a step toward Thadian. The chiming of the snake's rattles echoed across the rocky desert ground and Al could feel sympathetic vibrations in his teeth. It made it extremely difficult to keep moving forward, all he wanted to do was turn, bolt back down the gully, jump in the jeep, tear back to the base and hide in his bed with his wife's arms holding him.


	11. Chapter 11

Tina held her breath as she watched Al approach what had to be the most unique rattlesnake she had ever seen. She knew that Al had a deep seated fear of snakes, and vipers topped the list. Struggling to remain quiet Tina watched as the Admiral crept forward until he was with in arm's reach. The snake's rattles continued to make their unusual chime, but it was slowing almost like the snake knew what Al was doing, and expected him to be terrified.

A sharp gasp escaped her as Al nabbed the snake, Tina was sure he would be bitten, he'd moved far too slowly and his first grip was too far behind the snake's head. The silvery scales flashed in the moonlight as Al lifted the large snake off the ground, quickly settling the bulk of its length across his other arm. Tina gaped as she watched the snake settle into Al's arms like some kind of hand raised pet boa constrictor instead of a wild caught adult rattlesnake. The snake looked perfectly content in draping itself over the Admiral's arms. It's rattles slowed again, sounding almost lazy as Al straightened. Tina could see that Al's face was completely blank, his eyes were glued to the snake and she knew that the Admiral could see nothing else.

When the Admiral stood, Don moved forward, he took one look at Al's face and knew that for all practical purposes the man's brain had just shut down. Hoping that Al could still follow directions, Don motioned toward the waiting jeep.

“Good job Admiral, let's get back to the jeep.” Don directed firmly, but kept his voice calm. If this didn't work it would be a real challenge to get both Al and Thadian back to the project.

Slowly, woodenly, Al followed Don's instructions and the three of them made their way off the mountainside to where they'd parked the jeep. Tina scrambled into the back seat, Al sat stiffly in the front passenger seat and Don took care of the driving. Although Don knew that they were in a hurry to get Thadian to the medical bay he drove carefully, making sure that he avoided the roughest parts of the road. It wouldn't do to have Thadian suddenly spooking and sinking his fangs into Al. It took them about a half hour to return to the project garage, Don pulled into the loading zone right next to the elevator.

“Admiral, we're here. Follow Tina and she'll escort you down to medical. I'm sure Dr. Calavicci is waiting for you.”

At Don's instructions the near catatonic man gave a shallow nod and stepped out of the jeep. Al slowly made his way to the elevator, Tina passed him and pushed the button to call the car. Both Tina and Don saw that the Admiral was handling Thadian like he was made of thin spun glass, or maybe it would be more accurate to compare Al's handling of the snake to someone working with unstable dynamite. 

Once they were in the elevator, Ziggy spoke from above, “Admiral, Tina, I have alerted Medical of your return and the hallway has been cleared. Dr. Lofton has a container ready for your specimen.”

When the door opened Tina began shepherding Al down the hall, while maintaining some distance from the continually threatening rattlesnake. Beth and Aurora were both waiting at the entrance to the medical bay and silently directed Al to a large glass aquarium which sat on top of a rolling table.

Al blinked, he had no memory of returning to the project, but he recognized that he was now standing in front of a large glass aquarium which contained the silvery glistening form of the rattlesnake that he'd needed to find to save Sam. It gazed at him with bright turquoise eyes and Al could feel himself begin to pass out. He took a stumbling step back from the tank before collapsing onto the floor. His last thought before the blackness overwhelmed him was “For Sam.”

Beth and Aurora moved quickly, hoisting Al off the floor and putting him on a nearby gurney before turning to the snake in the aquarium. The sound of its chiming rattles filled the room making shivers of fear tingle up their spines. Aurora snapped a lid on the tank and rolled it back to the lab. They had to make sure that Thadian was healthy before they would allow it anywhere near Jack. Tina followed Aurora to the lab, the experience she had gained from keeping her own collection of reptiles would be valuable in making sure that Thadian was not carrying any dangerous parasites.

Once Thadian was cleared they turned to Jack, who was still on life support. When Al had brought the snake into the medical bay Jack had twitched and his heart rate had jumped to the point where alarms were starting to beep and squeal. 

Aurora took a quick look at the monitors and nodded at the tank, “We’ve got to do this quickly. I don’t like what I’m seeing on those machines.”

Beth nodded in agreement, “So where do you want the snake to bite him?”

“I think on the leg would be best. It’s a little far from the majority of the scaring, but the distance will also give us the best chance to react if this makes things worse.”

“OK I think it will be easiest to put his foot into the aquarium. I don’t think that I could take the snake out of there without getting bit.” Beth mused as she moved to the restraints holding Jack to his bed. Tina and one of the nurses moved to lift the tank from the rolling table and put it on the floor, near Jack.

Aurora nodded, “Alright people, we may need to move quickly here. If this doesn’t work I want the crash cart ready and someone have the ER on speed dial. This has got to be one of the craziest things we’ve done for Sam, so I hope to heaven it works.”

With a bit more shuffling and shifting of people and equipment they were ready to make the attempt. Tina took the lid off of the aquarium and Beth lowered Jack’s leg into Thadian’s range. The bite itself was completed in an instant, Thadian’s fangs striking deep into Jack’s calf, a solid hit by both sides ensuring a full load of the snake’s venom was delivered. As Jack’s heart pumped the venom through his body Aurora was stunned to see his vitals even out and his muscles relax, where before Jack had been fighting the sedation, straining against his restraints. Tina slid the cover back on the aquarium and one of the nurses helped move it out of the way. Aurora and Beth spent several minutes going over Jack’s reaction to the venom that was now being pumped through his system. Since the Quantum aura surrounding their patient, still reflected the image of Sam it was a challenge to know how things were improving. After about fifteen minutes Aurora turned to the rest of the team. 

“Despite the fact that, according to all of my medical and scientific knowledge, the bite should have made his condition worse it seems we’re in the presence of a miracle. Jack’s vitals are strengthening and it does look like he is more comfortable. I think from here we’re still going need to keep an eye on him with how much sedatives he’s been on, but I want to allow him to come out of the sedation, take him off the ventilator and see how he feels. With a bit of luck things on Sam’s end will give us the time we need to make sure Jack is healthy before the next Leap. Let’s take another round of blood tests to see if we may need to have Thadian administer another bite.”

“Another bite?” asked Beth.

“Remember, Sam is rather like an echo when he leaps. It’s why the people around him see the person he’s leapt into, and while Sam may experience some ‘bleed over’ from their medical conditions the person we have in the waiting room has the full expression of their condition. With this leap Sam did experience some level of discomfort from the toxins in Jack’s blood, but he never got to the point where he had to be sedated and restrained. We’ll move Jack back into the waiting room once we know that Thadian’s bite has been effective.”

Beth nodded, remembering a time where the person in the waiting room had escaped and Sam had been unable to leap out until they had been returned. Of course in that case they needed Sam to leap out before he ended up executed on an electric chair and the person who escaped the waiting room was a convicted criminal. So this case, while troubling wasn’t so dire.

Al took his time waking up, he could hear Beth and Aurora talking calmly in the background so he wasn’t worried. Then he remembered just where he was and what he’d done to get there, and woke up with a gasp, flailing his arms and bolting up into a seated position. When his head stopped spinning from the sudden change in orientation Beth was standing at his bedside speaking in soothing tones.

“It’s alright Al, you’re in the Med Bay. You fainted after bringing Thadian in, you’ll be fine if you just take it slow for a couple of minutes.”

Al took a couple of deep breaths, nodding shallowly as his head settled. He swallowed drily and Beth handed him a cup of water to sip. After a moment he chuckled grimly, “You’d think that with all we’ve been through... Still hate snakes...” giving his head a shake he looked over to the cubicle where Jack was behind a curtain, “How’s our patient?”

“Surprisingly, he’s doing much better. I wouldn’t put him completely out of the woods yet, but Aurora seems fairly confident.” Beth said with a shrug.

“Will he need to stay here long?”

“We’re going to run another battery of tests in a bit to see if we’ve managed to completely cure him or if we need to have Thadian bite him again before we take him back to the waiting room. Think Sam will be safe enough to wait a day or two?”

Al thought about it, this wasn’t like some of the leaps where they were running against a short clock. Sure there were a few ‘if this, then that’ happenings, all leaps had them, but they’d found that it wasn’t Sam’s place to tie up all the loose ends. For this leap all of Ziggy’s projections put challenges in Jack’s future, but nothing appeared to have a strongly set date. “I’ll have to check in and see how Sam’s managing, can’t say before that if it will be a good idea to leave him there for a couple of days.”

Beth nodded, “I’ll have Ziggy keep you up to date on what our tests find. If you need Jack to be in the waiting room give us a holler.”

Al gave his wife a peck on the cheek as he hopped down from the gurney and straightened his jacket, “Will do,” he answered with a jaunty salute as he made for the doors. He breathed a relieved sigh when he realized that the clashing sound of Thadian’s rattles were muted by the door and stopped setting his teeth on edge. A quick stop in the mess for a cup of coffee saw him en route to the Imaging Chamber to check up on Sam.

As the door swooshed shut Al looked around at his surroundings, he was back in the restaurant grade kitchen of Glinda’s where Sam was working on a big pot of homemade chicken soup. Al also saw that there were several fresh loaves of bread on a counter, it made him wish that he could do more than observe, he wanted to smell and taste and his stomach growled in agreement. Sam turned at the noise, almost upsetting the cutting board where he was dicing carrots.

“So Al, any news?” Sam asked as he scooped up the scattered bits of carrot from the counter and dumped them into a bowl.

“Well, I managed to find Thadian.” Al answered with a shudder, “Aurora and Beth have administered one bite, and now they’re running tests to see if they may need a second one. Until they’re sure that Jack is cured he’s going to remain in the Med Bay, which means you may be here for a little while.”

“How much of a little while?” Sam asked with a stern look on his face.

Al looked down at the handlink, “Ziggy is saying approximately 24 hours if Jack is cured with one bite, and 48 hours if he needs a second one.”

Sam gave a nod, “That’s not too bad, things have been pretty peaceful around here. Rose won’t let me do any heavy lifting or construction work with two bandaged arms, but she has let me cook.”

“So where is Rose?”

“Working upstairs, they’re putting in the wallboard on the fourth floor. You think I should check up on her?”

Al glance at the handlink again, “Ziggy is still putting a high percentage on that kidnapping attempt...”

“Okay, let me put these veggies in and I’ll head up to check on her. Don is around here too, he got conscripted when Rose saw my injuries, so we can pass the word to him to keep his eyes open for shady characters.”

“Good idea, kid’s got a cool head and an amazing knack to see the little things.” Al said with approval.

Sam quirked an eyebrow at Al, it wasn’t common for him to give such a ringing endorsement to someone he’d barely spent any time with. “Oh, what makes you say that?”

“Well, It may not have occurred to him before, but meeting you, finding out about the Quantum Leap project seems to have made an impact. With how he’s noticed things we couldn’t really keep it secret, and in the future Don becomes part of the Marine force who provide security for the project. I’d still be searching the mountain for Thadian without his help...” Al admitted with a small smile.

Sam blinked and gave out a little huffing laugh, “Figures, wouldn’t be the strangest thing we’ve seen happen during a leap either.” Sam dumped the carrots and veggies into the soup stock, “Well come on then, we’ll head up and see Rose and let Don know that we need his eyes.”

Leaving the kitchen Sam walked down the hallway, giving a wave to Harriet who was seated on a chair near the main door, keeping an eye on the comings and goings of the work crew and the delivery trucks. “Lunch will be ready in about a half an hour if you want to start spreading the news. I’m going up to see how Rose and Don are doing, so I’ll let the crew upstairs know.”

Harriet gave a nod and went back to her watching. Sam turned to the staircase and started moving up, taking two steps at a time. He was breathing a little heavy by the time he reached the fourth floor, but he definitely felt better than he did before he’d gone to see Stargazer. It didn’t take long to locate Rose, who was once again up on her stilts helping to tape and mud the seams between the drywall.

“Hey Rose, looking good... Just thought I’d check out how you all were doing and let you know that lunch will be ready in thirty. You sure you don’t want any help?”

Rose scraped the extra spackle from her knife and pointed it at Sam, “Jack, if I wanted you to tear your stitches and start bleeding on my floors I’d put you to work, but I don’t so it’s the kitchen for you and maybe some light painting later. We’ll just put this stuff up and head down for lunch, what are we having?”

“Chicken noodle and vegetable soup and some fresh baked bread, should be hearty enough for everyone.” Sam said with a shrug, “Figured we could serve it from the stove top since you don’t want me lifting heavy things.”

While Sam was speaking with Rose, Al walked over to where Don was also mudding and taping the seams. “Hey Don, we need you to keep a look out for Rose. We think that things are wrapping up for Sam’s reason for being here, but Ziggy, the computer we use to make predictions, still thinks that there’s a chance that someone could be planning on kidnapping Rose. We’re not real sure on the time, but Ziggy wouldn’t have percentages on a kidnapping if it wasn’t within the next month or so.”

Don gave a sharp nod, with a very serious look in his eye. Seeing that Sam and Rose were still chatting he whispered, “Won’t happen on my watch. She’s had a couple of threats in the past, some people don’t like what she’s been doing for the homeless with the establishment of Glinda’s. I’ll drop a few bugs in a few ears and see if we can’t shake things loose before it becomes a problem. It won’t take much to encourage Jack to stay at her place until his arms are healed up.”

“So why don’t those two get together?” Al asked.

“Eh, it wouldn’t work out. They like each other well enough, and maybe they’ll become friends with benefits, but Jack won’t put Rose into a position of danger. You don’t know everything Al, and this is one of those things probably best left alone. See Jack thinks of himself as being a ‘defender of the city’. Most times he’s happy enough doing things like helping out here, but you’ve seen that big butterknife he carries. There are also times where Jack likes hunting muggers and other scum. The scars he carries are all well earned. Now, Jack won’t start a fight, but he sure will end them with extreme prejudice.” Don sighed, “Rose is too nice a gal to get mixed up in such things, so we keep a look out for her. The people she helps with projects like Glinda’s are worth defending, and that’s what Jack and people like him do.”

“People like him?”

“Sure, there’s Jack, me, Harriet, Dr. James, Nyman, Stargazer, and a few more. We keep our eyes on the people of the streets and help where we can. There are other groups who keep an eye on the people in the glass towers and such. Never know what kind of trouble can lurk in the shadows of a city like New York, but we try to be prepared.” Don finished with a grin, and Al blinked as he caught a glimpse of blue black feathers scattered in Don’s hair and a flash across the young man’s eyes that made them look like those of a bird. Don winked and went back to his work.

Shaking his head with a frown Al turned and walked over to where Rose and Sam were standing as she finished up taping a seam. Once they were done Rose went over to a waiting ladder to remove her stilts and Sam headed for the stairs. Back in the kitchen Sam checked the soup and added a couple of packages of noodles, before heading to the cupboards to take out an assortment of bowls and plates, placing them on a counter near a rack of silverware. Soon enough the clatter and pounding of feet were heard and the kitchen rapidly filled with people and voices as the work crews fell upon the simple meal like a horde of locusts. After everyone had eaten, Harriet shooed Sam out of the kitchen telling him in no uncertain terms that he could take her post while she and a couple of the lads cleaned up. Given his orders Sam settled in the chair on the front stoop with a clipboard that listed the expected volunteers and deliveries for the afternoon. Seeing that things were calm Al let Sam know that he’d be back in a couple of hours and exited the Imaging Chamber to see how things were going with Jack.

Down in the Med Bay things were looking hopeful, Aurora was continuing to lower the medications to bring Jack out of the sedation and he was beginning to stir. Beth reported that the blood tests were showing marked improvement, but they wanted to give it at least twelve hours to make sure that Jack’s symptoms were truly gone. With a nod Al left to his own office to try to catch up on the paperwork and get a start on his own mission log.

Al checked in with Sam one more time before turning in for the night. Finding him staying over at Rose’s apartment again, watching another movie and sharing more popcorn. Aurora let Al know that Jack could be discharged from the Med Bay as early as 6 AM if things continued to improve, so he decided to make it a day and get some sleep.

The next morning Al was up by 5 AM and present for Jack’s transfer back into the waiting room. According to Ziggy, Sam could leap at any moment, so Al wanted to be ready. Jack complained a bit about having to don another Fermi suit, but was feeling so much better he only griped a little bit. Once Jack was settled, Al made his way to the Imaging Chamber to check up on Sam and found him just finishing up breakfast at Rose’s. 

“Sam, Jack is back in the waiting room so you could leap at any moment. You want me to stick around?”

Sam gave a brief nod, but remained silent since Rose was nearby.

“I think we’ll be able to finish with the wallboard on the fourth floor today. Do you have any plans, or will you be hanging out with me today?” Rose asked as she collected the plates from the table.

Sam gave Al a pointed look and Al checked his handlink, “This is one of the days Jack usually spends at Glinda’s so tell her you’ll be around after you check in with Dr. James. Remember he wanted to check up on how well you were healing.”

Sam parroted the information from Al and Rose grinned, “I’d wondered considering you were around yesterday. I don’t usually get to have you around so many days in a row. It’s been nice.”  
Sam blushed a little in thanks and murmured an agreement, “Yeah, it has been.”

They left the apartment building together, but soon split up. Rose heading to Glinda’s and Sam heading to Dr. James’ clinic. At the clinic Sam was quickly seen by Dr. James who removed the dressings from his arms. Underneath the bandages Sam was stunned to find that both the cut and the snakebite were healed to silvery scars. Dr. James nodded his head as he examined them and got out a pair of suture scissors to remove the stitches that had been put in only a few days prior.

“Good, very good, looks like you’re healing like your old self Jack.” Dr. James observed, “I want you to keep these wrapped for one more day, but then it’s up to you. I’m glad that the treatment from Stargazer seems to be working so well. It’ll be good to have you back at full strength.”

“Thanks,” Sam answered, not knowing what else to say. 

As they stepped out of the clinic Al’s handlink chirped, “Looks like that’s done it Sam. According to Ziggy, Jack continues to help out Rose, defending her from a kidnapping attempt in about a month and working with her over the next few years to open several more homes like Glinda’s. Don enlists in the Marines next year and we know where he ends up... Guess we’ll see you on the flip side.”

Sam grinned as he felt the electrical charge of the start of a Leap wash over him and was swept up in the flash of blue that would send him on his next adventure.

\- Finis -


End file.
